





" ' " « ^^. 






y c " -^ " « '^ ^^ ^ 






>■ V 



■%%^ 



V 1 




.\0^^. 









^ 



^^ . 



<* 






^ 2 



.\0°.. 



















0^ 



'<v. V'^' 









-> 



^ 



■■>. 















^oo^ 






'o. 







^^. ^' 






/ 






\ 1 6 . -/; 






\' 



\\- 













• ' ^ ^- •* v.- -^ 



^ •<... ,^ 



* . S ^ 



vO 






.V' 









■f 






.^' 






*• 

A^'^ 



=^ % 



% 



>. 






"^ 



^oo"^' 



,0^ . ^^ ^ '' 



■^/- ^" 















v^ '/^^ - •'./: '>;:, vv> ^ 



.\^ 












4, ^ i^>^ ^ 






■7- ^ N 






:^^% 






■■■: ^-^ - OA' ■ 

.0' < '' , ^^ 



.\V 



•'/ 



^V 



.A^ ^ N G^ 



o 0^ 



^t. V^ 






^^ 















•^oo^ 






^.r. 



cP^ -^ 



"oo^ 



r?" »^\.0- 



* 8 






'^./ ^ '. s ^ A^^ 



>5 -7-, 






A * • 



~0 % ^'To ^ A'''^ 









"<?•. .V 






^ 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE 



THE 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF 



J ord 



X. B. SAINTINE 



BY 



Prof. M. SCHELE DE VERE, LL. D. 



ILLUSTRATED BY GUSTAVE DO RE 




NEW YORK 
SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG, AND COMPANY 

1875 



r^ 



oo^ Co 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

ScRiBXER, Armstrong, and Company, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



' '\ 






RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: 

ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY 

H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



r9^ 



I. 

1 

Primitive Titjies. — The First Settlers on the Rhine. — Mas- 
ters going to School. — Sanskrit and Breton. — An Idle 
God. — Microscopic Deities. — Tree Worship. — Birth- 
Trees and Death-Trees. ...... 



II. 

The Druids and their Creed. — Esus. — The Holy Oak. — 
The Pforzheim Lime Tree. — A Rival Plant. — The 
Mistletoe and the Anguiiium. — The Oracle at Do- 
dona. — Immaculate Horses. — The Druidesses. — A 
late Elector. — Philanthropic Institution of Human 
Sacrifices. — Second Druidical Epoch. .... 



25 



HI. 

A Visit to the Land of our Forefathers. — The Two 
Banks of the Rhine. — Druid Stones. — Weddings and 
Burials. — Night Service. — A Demigod Glacier. — So- 
cial Duels. — A Countrywoman of Aspasia. — Boudoir 
of a Celtic Lady. — The Bard's Story. — Teutons and 
Titans. — Earthquake. ....... 



53 



IV. 

The RomaJt Gods invade Germany. — Drusus and the Dru- 
idess. — Ogmius, the Hercules of Gaul. — Great Phi- 



IV 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



lological Discovery concerning Teutates. — Transfor- 
mations of every kind. — Injietisid. — The Rhine dei- 
fied. — The Gods cross the River. — Druids of the 
Third Epoch. ........ 89 



V. 

The World before and since Odin. — Birth of Ymer. — 
The Giants of the Frost. — A Log spHt in Two. — 
The First Man and the First Woman. — The Ash 
Ygdrasil and its Menagerie. — Thor's Three Jewels. — 
Freyr's Enchanted Sword. — A Souvenir of the Na- 
tional Guard of Belleville. — The Story of Kvasir 
and the Two Dwarfs. — Honey and Blood. — Invoca- 
tion. .......... 



119 



VI. 

Short Biographies. — A Clain^oyant among the Gods. — 
A Bright God. — Tyr and the Wolf Fenris. — The 
Hospital at the Walhalla. — Why was Odin one-eyed. 
— The Three Norns. — Mimer the Sage. — A Goddess 
the Mother of Four Oxen. — The Love Affairs of LLeim- 
dall, the God with the Golden Teeth 



151 



VII. 

Lleaven and LLell. — The Valkyrias. — Amusements in W-A- 
halla. — Pork and Wild Boar. — A Frozen Hell. — 
Balder' s Death. — Frigg's Devotion. — The Iron Tree 
Forest. — The Twilight of the Gods. — Iduna's Ap- 
ples. — The Ball of LLeaven a?id the End of the World. 
— Reflections on that Event. — The Little Fellow still 
alive 



17 



t 



VIII. 

How the Gods of India live only for a Kalpa, that is, 
for the Time between one World and another. — How 
the God Vishnu was One-eyed. — How Celts and Scan- 
dinavians believed in Metempsychosis, like the Indians. 

— How Odin, with his Emanations, came forth from 
the God Buddha. — About Mahabarata and Ramayana. 

— Chronology. — The World's Age. — Comparative Ta- 
bles. — Quotations. — Supporting Evidence. — A Cen- 
otaph. .......... 



209 



IX. 
Confederation of all the Northerji Gods. — Freedom of Relig- 
ion. — Christianity. — Miserere mei I — Homeric Enu- 
meration. — Prussian, Slavic, and Finnish Deities. — 
The God of Cherries and the God of Bees. — A Silver 
Woman. — Ilmarijinen'' s Wedding Song. — A Skeleton 
God. — Yaga-Baba's Pestle and Mortar. — Preparation 
for Battle. — The Little Chapel on the Hill. — The 
Signal for the Attack. — ycsus and Mary. . 



215 



X. 

Marietta and the Sweet-briar. — Esus and Jesus. — Amal- 
gam. — A Neophyte. — Prohibition to eat Horseflesh. 
— Bishops in Arms. — Interruption. — Come Home, 
my Good Friend ! — Prussia and the Myths of the Mid- 
dle Ages. — Tybilinus, the Black God. — The little 
Blue Flower • . • . 243 



XI. 

Elemejttary Spirits of Air, Fire, and Water. — Sylphs, their 
Amusements and Domestic Arrangements. — Little 



VI TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Queen Mab. — Will-o'-the-Wisps. — White Elves and 
Black Elves. — True Causes of Natural Somnambu- 
lism. — The Wind's Betrothed. — Fire-damp. — Master 
Haemmerling. — The Last of the Gnomes. . . .261 

XII. 
Elementary Spirits of the Water. — Petrarch at Cologne. — 
Divine Judgment by Water. — Nixen and Undines. — 
A Furlough till Ten o'clock. — The White-footed U?t- 
ditie. — Mysteries on the Rhine. — The Court of the 
Great Nichus. — Nixcobt, the Messenger of the Dead. — 
His Funny Tricks. — I go in Search of an Undine. . 281 

XIII. 

Familiar Spirits. — Butzemann. — The Good Frau Holle. 

— Kobolds. — A Kobold in the Cook's Employ. — Zot- 

terais and the Little White Ladies. — The Killecroffs^ 

the Devil's Children. — White Angels. — Granted 

Wishes^ a Fable. . . . . . . . .307 



XIV. 
Giants afid Dwarfs. — Duel between Ephesim and Gromme- 
lund. — Court Dwarfs and Little Dwarfs. — Ymer's 
Sons. — The Invisible Reapers. — Story of the Dwarf 
Kreiss and the Giant Qiiadragant. — How the Giants 
came to serve the Dwarfs. ...... 333 

XV. 

Wizards and the Bewitched. — The Journey of Asa-Thor 
and his Companions. — The Inn with the Five Passages. 
— Skrymner. — A Lost Glove found again. — Arrival 
at the Great City of Utgard. — Combat between Thor 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Vll 



S 



and the King's Nurse. — Frederick Barbarossa and the 
Kyffhduser. — Teutonia ! Teutonia ! — What became 
of the Ancient Gods. — Venus and the good Knight 
Tannhauser. — Jupiter on Rabbit Island. — A Modern 
God 369 



XVI. 

Women as Missionaries, Women as Prophets, Strong Women, 
and Serpent Wo7ne7i. — Children's Myths. — Godmothers. 

— Fairies. — The Magic Wand and the Broomstick. 

— The Lady of Kynast. — The World of the Dead, 
the World of Ghosts, and the World of Shadows. — 
Myths of Animals. ....... 



397 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Germany 



Father Rhine 

The impassive historian 

Vast forests as old as the world 

The first pioneers ..... 

The Celts were a people from India 

What happy people scholars are ! 

A horrible custom .... 

Dead man's trees 

The Druids now appear for the first time in 
Their creed must be judged by their rites 
The other chieftains were generally polygamists 
Courts of justice were always held under an elm tree 

Attempt to murder the mayor 

Mistletoe an ofiicinal and sacred plant 

Gauls ......... 

Serpents' knots 

Prophetic trembling and neighing .... 

A Druid teacher 

The Germans were in full flight .... 
The bloody knife of the Druids .... 
I turn my steps from the sacred precincts 
Who are these other soldiers ? . . . . 
These laborers seem to suffer from some restraint . 
I look around for a resting-place .... 

A shepherd 

The guard of a sword, which had been driven into the ground 

The shepherd, — as mournful as ever 

Herds of swine are wallowing ..=■.... 
A young wife bearing the burden of united household . 
Happiness consists in the fulfillment of duty 
Such were the ways of our fathers, they rejoice in facing death 

The Druidical altars 

As there is no window I peep through the trap-door 

One of the chief men of the country 

She was a young Ionian girl, a country-woman of Aspasia 



3 
4 
5 

7 

9 
lo 

19 

22 

23 
27 

31 

32 

33 

35 
37 
39 
41 
44 
46 

52 
55 
57 
58 

59 
60 
61 

63 
66 

67 
68 

69 

70 
72 

75 
So 



X 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



their 



verdure 



The boudoir of a Celtic lady 

The Druid-bard 

Death of Druids ....... 

A Druidess endowed with the gift of prophecy . 

The victorious march of the Romans 

Her deities personified nothing but vices 

The Hercules — so called 

Mercury, the son of Jupiter 

" O Varus, Varus, bring me back my legions ! " 

Perhaps the old river remembered his grievances 

They made him a king, the King of German rivers . 

He had already allowed Jupiter to cross 

The vines began to adorn the banks of the river with 

Once more caresses had their hoped-for effect 

He did his best to help everybody across 

Frivolous and ill-mannered deities 

The dauntless pirates . . . will end by w^earing white cotton night- 
caps ............ 

The great Northern Tempest 

The German Druids gave way 

lormungondur, the great sea serpent ...... 

The giant Ymer has been born ....... 

Does it not look as if the first men had been born w'ith a telescope 
in their pocket ? 

Ymer was the first to succumb 

After the giants came the turn of land and sea monsters 

The new creation was assuming a more pleasing appearance 

Deer, eland, and aurochs were bounding in herds .... 

Incessantly a tiny squirrel comes and goes ..... 

A vulture is perching upon the loftiest top of the sacred tree 

Thor's weighty hammer MjoYner ....... 

The good Freyr seated at Odin's table 

Portrait of Freyr 

Bragi and the beautiful Freya ........ 

Return of the eagle with the three precious vessels 

Balder, the bright god 

The wolf Fenris . 

They seemed to converse with each other by significative glances. 

They were the Norns ......... 

He took counsel with the Norns 

" To Egir, the seas and navigation "...... 

Gefione took her four sons and changed them into oxen 

Jarl, the noble 



82 
85 
91 
93 

9-1 
96 

98 

99 

[03 

[05 
[06 

[07 

[08 

[09 

10 

10 

13 

15 
18 
21 

23 

27 
:28 

29 

32 
■33 

36 

:37 

[39 
[41 

[42 

f47 

oo 

53 

S^ 

59 
[60 

[62 

[64 

[65 

71 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 


xi 


The Valkyrias 


. 175 


Beautiful nymphs of carnage 


. 176 


A very mammoth of a boar 


. 180 


Feast in Scandinavian Paradise 


. 181 


Hela, the pale goddess 


. . 185 


" Balder, fair Balder, is going to die " 


189 


Loki succeeds in exhilarating even Odin himself . 


. 191 


Balder is amused by the game 


192 


When the mother told her pitiful tale the iron trees wept 


• 197 


The three sacred cocks announcing the Twilight of Greatnes 


s . 202 


The death of the gods 


. 208 


My VII Ith chapter is thus changed into a cenotaph . 


211 


I like to glean a little where scholars have reaped . 


. 214 


The two religions face to face 


. 217 


Ovid reciting his '" Metamorphoses " . . . . 


. 219 


Druidic worship suspended by the Romans 


220 


"Miserere mei, Jesu " 


. 222 


Perkunos, Pikollos, and Potrympos 


224 


Puscatus, — a kind-hearted god 


. 226 


Monstrous reptiles accompany the gods to Germany . 


227 


He let his heavy mace fall upon a httle town . 


. . 238 


The blacksmiths of Ilmarinnen 


• 239 


Marietta appeared in their midst 


- . 245 


" Do you think I am a man to be taken in ? " 


. 251 


Horse-head, a la mode 


• 253 


The Undines mingled with the Tritons and the Naiads 


. 258 


Have transferred their Olympus to the Brocken 


• 259 


The Olympus of the North 


263 


Able to see without being seen 


. 266 


Dance of the white fairies ....... 


269 


The black fairies personify Nightmare .... 


. 271 


An important personage with a will of his own . 


272 


Enormous toads are posted about, as w^atchmen 


• 279 


Elementary spirits of the water 


. 283 


Imaginary music 


. 288 


The nix with the harp 


. 289 


The schoolmaster's son who had fallen in love with one of tl 


lem . 291 


He thought he saw a pale form arise from the waters 


. 294 


He rose suddenly and fled to another room 


. 295 


The steward whispered some words in her ear . 


. 297 


Niord, the Scandinavian god 


. 299 


This creature is Nixcobt 


300 


The Vintner is hanged, and Nixcobt laughs heartily 


. 302 



xii MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 


Four Prussian soldiers watching the water .... 


• 305 


The Zotterais protected sheep 


• 309 


The master has nothing to do 


• 315 


We prefer to remember the Kobold as a cheerful household com- 


panion . 


• 317 


The Zotterais are as fond of stables as the Kobolds are of kitchens 319 j 


They are naturally easily tired 


. 321 


The Killecroffs are children of the Devil .... 


• 322 


His nurse has to be reinforced by two goats and a cow 


• 324 


The great Reformer, Dr. Martin Luther .... 


• 326 


The fall of Killecroff 


• 331 


Giants and dwarfs 


• 335 


The last of the giants 


• 337 


Grommelund and Ephesim . 


• 339 


The humiliated giant . 


• 340 


Our good little dwarfs 


• 341 


He stood at first with Iiis mouth wide open 


• 346 


A long and deep sigh of satisfaction 


. 348 


Flight of the conspirators 


• 353 


Kreiss slipped boldly into this vast and spacious cavity . 


• 354 


They fixed strong piles between the two rows of teeth 


• 355 


In his hand he held not a club but a lantern .... 


• 357 


Kreiss compelled to leave his position by torrents of tears 


• 359 


The last two held each a long thorn in their hands 


. 361 


Kreiss entering the great meeting hall .... 


• 363 


Putskuchen was in love 


• 365 


Ouadragant vanquished 


• 367 


The passing of the wizard 


• 371 


Venus and Tannhauser 


• 390 


His ex-colleague Jupiter 


• 396 


The author pursues the subject 


• 399 


The conscientious collector of myths 


. 401 


The Druidess transformed into an accursed witch 


406 


To return was as impossible as to proceed .... 


• 409 


She had rejoined her victims 


• 413 


He is the Lord Hackelberg 


• 417 


These ghosts can imitate all the motions of men. 


. 421 


Farewell 


• 423 




I. 



Primitive Times. — The First Settlers on the Rhine. — Masters 
goi?ig to School. — Sanskrit and Breton. — An Idle God. — Mi- 
croscopic Deities. — Tree Worship. — Birth- Trees and Death- 
Trees. 

The Rhine is born in Switzerland, in the Canton 
of Grisons ; it skirts France and passes through it, 
and after a long and magnificent career it finally 
loses itself in the countless canals of Holland; and 
yet the Rhine is essentially a German river. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



Already in the earliest ages, long before towns 
were built on its banks, it saw all the Germanic 
races dwell here in tents, watch their flocks, and 
fight their interminable battles, although the clash 
of arms and the blast of trumpets never for a 




moment aroused the impassive historian from his 
deep slumbers. 

■ His silence, long continued into later centuries, 
does not prevent us from supposing, however, that 
the Rhine was already at that time the great high- 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



road on which the Germanic races wandered to 
and fro, and other races came to their native land. 
It was the Rhine that brought to them commerce and 
civiUzation ; but on the Rhine came also invasions 
of a very different kind. We can allude here only 
to those religious invasions which are connected 
with our subject. 




In the earliest ages the South of Europe alone 
was inhabited, while the Northern part was covered 
with vast forests, as old as the world, and as yet 



6 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



unbroken by the footsteps of men. Dark, dismal 
solitudes, consisting of ancient woods or wretched 
morasses, where trees struggled painfully for exist- 
ence and only the strongest survived when they 
reached the light and the sun ; densely wooded des- 
erts, in which vast herds of wild beasts pursued 
each other incessantly, while in the deep shadow of 
impenetrable foliage flocks of timid, trembling birds 
sought a refuge against hosts of voracious birds of 
prey. Thus, even while Man was yet absent. War 
was already reigning supreme here, and in these 
vast reQ:ions the Great Destrover seemed to revel in 
it, as if it had been a feast, a necessity, a glory ! 

Had never human eye yet looked upon these 
magnificent but unknown regions t 

Then, one fine day a host of savages appeared 
here and settled down with their flocks. After 
them came another host of more warlike and better 
armed men, w^ho drove out the first comers and 
took possession of the tilled ground. 

After them another race, and then still another. 
Thus it went on for years and for centuries, and all 
these waves of immigration came down from the 
extreme North, marking each halting place by a 
bloody battle, while the conquered people, driven 
by the sharp edge of the sword to seek new homes, 
by turns pursued and pursuing, went and peopled 
those wild unsettled countries which afterwards be- 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



came known as Belgium and France, as Bretagne 
and England. Continuing their march from thence 
southward, from the Rhine to the Mediterranean, 
they spread right and left, east and west, and crossed 
the Pyrenees and the Alps, making themselves mas- 
ters on one side of Iberia, and on the other side of 
the plains of Lombardy, thus changing from fugi- 
tives into conquerors. 

These conquered conquerors, driven from their 
own homes, and now driving other nations from 




their homes, these first pioneers who laid open one 
unknown country after another, were all children of 
one great family and all bore the same name of 
Celts, 

But w^here was the first source from which this 



8 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



flood of families, of peoples, of nations, broke forth, 
that now overflowed Europe and in successive waves 
spread over the greater part of the Old World ? 
Whence came these vast multitudes of Northern 
visitors, unexpected and unknown, who broke the 
mournful silence that had so long reigned in Eu- 
rope ? Were the frozen regions of the North pole, 
at that early time, really so fertile in men ? We 
call upon men of science to answer our question. 
The question is a serious one, perhaps an indiscreet 
one, for who can be appealed to on such a difhcult 
point ? History ? It did not exist. Monuments, 
written or sculptured ? The Celts had never dreamt 
yet of writings or of carvings. Does this universal 
silence put it out of the power of our learned men 
to give a reply ? Must they confess that they are 
unable to do so ? By no means. Learned men 
never condescend to make such confessions. The 
Celts have left as a monument, a language, a dia- 
lect, still largely used in certain parts of ancient 
Bretagne as well as in the Principality of Wales. 

Illustrious academicians, mostly Germans, did not 
hesitate to go to school once more in order to learn 
Breton. The self-denial of which science is capable, 
deserves our admiration. 

After long labors, devoted to the separation of 
what belonged to the primitive language from sub- 
sequent additions, our great scholars found them- 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



selves once more face to face with Sanskrit, the 
sacred idiom of the Brahmins, the ancestor of the 
old German tongue, and of the old Celtic tongue, 
and thus of the Breton. 




The matter was decided, scientifically and cate- 
gorically, and no appeal allowed. The Celts were 
a people from India. Europeans are all descended 
from Indians, driven from home by some powerful 
pressure, a political or religious revolution, or one 
of those fearful famines which periodically devastate 



lO 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



that immense and inexhaustible storehouse of na- 
tions. 

At first, we good people, artists, poets, or authors, 
who generally claim to possess some little knowl- 
edge, were rather surprised at such a decision. But 
the wise men had said so ; Bengal and Bretagne 
had to fraternize ; the Brahmins of Benares speak 
Breton and the Bretons of Bretagne speak Sanskrit. 
Bretagne is Indian and India is Breton. 







Comparative Philology has taught the children 
of our day, that two syllables which are identical 



in the idioms of two different races, prove the 
connection between two nations; hybridism means 
kinship. 

What happy people scholars are ! They can con- 
verse with people who have been dead these three 
thousand years, and the grave has no secrets for 
them! A single word bequeathed to us by an ex- 
tinct people, enables them to reconstruct that whole 
race. 

But I am bound to ask them another question, 
a question of much greater importance to myself. 
What w^ere the religious convictions of these first 
inhabitants of Europe ? I am answered by Mr. 
Simon Pelloutier, a minister of the Reformed Church 
in Berlin, of French descent, who has studied the 
primitive creed of the Celts most thoroughly and 
successfully. He tells us that these people, before 
they had Druids, worshipped, or rather held in honor 
the sun, the moon, and the stars, a kind of Sabaism, 
which, however, did not exclude the belief in a God, 
who was the creator, but not the ruler, of all things. 

This god appears to me to have been very im- 
perfect ; he was heavy, sleepy, and shapeless, having 
neither eyes to see nor ears to hear ; he was in- 
capable of feeling pity or anger, and the prayers 
and vows of men were unable to reach him. In- 
visible, intangible, and incomprehensible, he was 
floating in space, which he filled, and which he 




animated without bestowing a thought upon it ; 
omnipotent and yet utterly inactive, creating islands 
and continents, and causing the sun and the stars 
to give light by his mere approach, this divine 
idler had created the world, but declined taking the 
trouble of governing his creation. 

To whom had he confided the control over the 
stars in heaven ? Mr. Pelloutier himself never could 
find out. As to the government of the earth, he 
had entrusted it to an infixuite number of inferior 
deities, gods and sub-gods, of very small stature. 
They were as shapeless and as invisible as he was, 
but vastly more active, and endowed with all the 
energy which he had disdained to bestow upon 
himself. By their numbers and by their collective 
force they made up for their individual feebleness 
— and they must have been feeble indeed, since 
their extremely small size permitted a thousand of 
them to find a comfortable shelter under the leaf 
of a walnut tree! 

Besides, they presided over the different depart- 
ments which were assigned to them, not by hun- 
dreds, but by myriads, nay, by millions of myriads. 
Thus they rushed forth in vast hosts, stirring the 
air in lively currents, causing the rivers and brooks 
to flow onwards, watching over fields and forests, 
penetrating the soil to great depths, creeping in 
through every crack and crevice, and breaking out 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 1 3 

again through the craters of volcanoes. They 
formed a belt from the Rhine to the Taunus 
mountains, dazzling the whole region for a moment 
by a shower of sparks, and falling back upon the 
plain in the form of columns of black smoke. 

Science has, moreover, established this incontest- 
able principle, that motion can only be produced 
in two ways here, below : either by the acts of liv- 
ing beings, or by the contact of these microscopic 
deities. 

Whenever the waters rose or broke forth in cat- 
aracts, whenever the leaves trembled in the wind, 
or the flowers bent before a storm, it was these 
diminutive gods who, invisible and yet ever active, 
forced the waters to come down in torrents, drove 
the tempest through the branches, bent the flowers 
down to the ground, and chased the dust of the 
highroads in lofty columns up to the clouds. It 
was they who caused the golden hair of the maid 
to fall down upon her shoulders as she went to the 
well, who shook the earthenware pitcher she carried 
on her shoulder, w^ho crackled in the fire on the 
hearth, and who roared in the storm, or the erup- 
tions of fiery mountains. 

When I think of this little world of tiny insect 
gods, who passed through the air in swarms, coming 
and going, turning to the left and to the right, 
struggling and striving above and beneath (I ask 



H 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE, 



their pardon for comparing these deities to humble 
insects, born in the mud and subject to infirmity 
and death Hke ourselves), I cannot help thinking 
of the beautiful lines by Lamartine, in which he so 
graphically describes life in Nature. 

" Chaque fois que nos yeux, penetrant dans ces ombres, 
De la niiit des rameaux edairaient les dais sombres, 
Nous trouvions sous ces lits de feuille ou dort I'e'te, 
Des mysteres d'amour et de fecondite. 
Chaque fois que nos pieds tombaient dans la verdure 
Les herbes nous montaient jusques a la ceinture, 
Des flots d'air embaume se repandaient sur nous, 
Des nuages ailes partaient de nos genoux ; 
Insectes, papillons, essaims nageants de mouches, 
Qui d'un ether vivant semblaient former les couches, 
lis montaient en colonne, en tourbillon flottant, 
Comblaient Fair, nous cachaient I'un a Fautre un instant, 
Comme dans les chemins la vague de poussiere 
Se leve sous les pas et retombe en arriere. 
lis roulaient ; et sur I'eau, sur les pres, sur le foin, 
Ces poussieres de vie allaient tomber plus loin ; 
Et chacune semblait, d'existence' ravie, 
Epuiser le bonheur dans sa goutte de vie, 
Et Pair qu'ils animaient de leurs fremissements 
N'etait que melodie et que bourdonnements." 

Such were the gods known to the first ingen- 
uous dwellers on the banks of the Rhine — gods 
worthy of a society but just beginning. And still, 
I venture to make a suggestion, which Mr. Simon 
Pelloutier, my guide up to this point, has unfortu- 
nately neglected to make. It is this : I feel as if 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



15 



there was hidden beneath this primitive and appar- 
ently puerile mythology a hideous monster, writhing 
in fearful threatenings and bitter mockery. This 
god Chaos, so careless and reckless, gifted with the 
power of creation but not with love for his work, 
seems to me nothing else but Matter, organizing 
itself. I have called these countless inferior deities 
microscopic. I should have called them molecular, 
for they are atoms, the monads of our science. 
There is evidently here a germ, not of a religious 
creed so much as of a philosophic system, a shadow 
of the materialism of a former civilization that is 
now degraded and nearly lost. 

At first I doubted the correctness of the opinions 
of our learned men ; but I begin to believe in them ; 
yes, these early Celts had come to us from distant 
India, from that ancient, decayed country, and in 
their knapsacks they had brought with them, by 
an accident, this fragment of their symbolic cos- 
mogony, the sad meaning of which was, no doubt, 
a mystery to them also. 

After some years, perhaps after some centuries, 
— for time does not count for much in those ques- 
tions, — the Celts became weary of this selfish Deity, 
which was lost in the contemplation of its own be- 
ing and dwelt in the centre of a cold and empty 
heaven, and they desired to establish some relations 
between him and themselves. Unable to appeal to 



i6 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



the Creator, they appealed to Creation, and asked 
for a mediator, who should hear their complaints 
or accept their thank-offerings and transmit them 
to the Supreme Power. 

We have already seen that they turned first to 
sun and moon ; but they w^ere ill rewarded for their 
efforts. These heavenly bodies w^ere either too far 
removed from their clients to hear their complaints, 
or they were too busy with their own daily duties ; 
at all events they shared with their common master 
in his indifference towards men. 

Our pious friends were offended by this want of 
consideration, and thought of looking for other in- 
tercessors, who might be less busy ; whom they 
might not only see with their eyes but touch wdth 
their hands, and who would remain as much as 
possible in the same place, so as to be always on 
hand when they were needed. 

They appealed to rivers and mountains ; but the 
rivers had nothing permanent but their banks, and 
went their way like the sun and moon ; while the 
mountains, besides being the home of wolves, bears, 
and serpents, and thus enjoying an evil reputation, 
were continually hid by snow and rain from the 
eyes of the petitioners. 

At last they turned to the trees, and as it always 
happens, they now found out that they ought to 
have commenced where they ended. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 1 7 

A tree was an excellent mediator ; standing be- 
tween heaven and earth, it clung to the latter by 
its roots, while its trunk, shaped like an arrow, 
feathered with verdure, rose upwards as if to touch 
the sky. 

The worship of trees was probably the first effect 
of sedentary life adopted by the Celts after their 
long, more or less forced wanderings; in a few 
years it prevailed on both sides of the river Rhine. 

There was no lack of trees ; every man had his 
own. As he could not carry it away with him, he 
became accustomed to live by its side. 

Man could lean his hut against the trunk; the 
flock could sleep in its shade. 

The birds came to it in numbers. If they were 
singing, it was a sign of joy to come ; if they built 
their nests there, it was an invitation to marry. 

The fruit-bearing tree suggested comfort, abun- 
dance, and enjoyment ; it spoke of harvest feasts 
and cider-making, when friends gathered around it, 
holding in their hands large horns filled to over- 
flowing with foaming drink. 

Soon it became customary to plant at the birth 
of a child a tree which was to become a compan- 
ion and a counsellor for life. 

Thus in the course of time a copse represented 
a family. 

The worship bestowed upon the tree consisted 




in pruning it, in making it grow straight, in freeing 
its bark from parasitical growth and in keeping the 
roots free from ants, rats, snakes and all dangerous 
enemies. Such continuous care naturally led in the 
course of time to an improvement in cultivation. 

The tree worshippers, however, did more than 
this. On certain hallowed days they hung bouquets 
of herbs and of flowers on its branches, they brought 
food and drink, and thus fetichism crept in gradu- 
ally. Alas ! That men have never been able to 
keep from extremes ! 

When the wind whispered in the leaves, the de- 
vout owner listened attentively, trying anxiously to 
interpret the mystic language of his cedar or his 
pear tree, and often a regular conversation ensued. 

It was a bad omen when a rising storm shook 
the tree fiercely ; if the tempest was strong enough 
to break a branch, the event foretold a great ca- 
lamity, and if it was struck by lightning, the owner 
was warned of his approaching death. The latter 
was resigned ; he felt quite proud at having at last 
compelled his indolent god to reveal himself to his 
devout worshipper. 

When a child died, it was buried under its own 
tree, a mere sapHng. But it was not so when a 
man died. 

The Celts used various and strange means for 
the purpose of disposing of the remains of their 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 21 

deceased friends. In some countries they were 
burnt, and their own tree furnished the fuel for the 
funeral pile ; in other countries the Todtendaum 
(Tree of the Dead), hollowed out with an axe, be- 
came the owner's coffin. This coffin was interred, 
unless it was intrusted to the current of the river, 
to be carried God knows where ! Finally, in cer- 
tain localities there existed a custom — a horrible 
custom ! — of exposing the body to the voracity of 
birds of prey, and the place of exposure was the 
top of the very tree which had been planted at the 
birth of the deceased, and which in this case, quite 
exceptionally, was not cut down. 

Now, observe, that in these four distinct methods 
by which human remains were restored to the four 
elements of air and water, earth and fire, we meet 
again the four favorite ways of burial still practiced 
in India, as of old, by the followers of Brahma, 
Buddha, and Zoroaster. The fire-worshippers of 
Bombay are as familiar with them as the dervishes 
who drown children in the Ganges. Thus we have 
here four proofs, instead of one, of the Indian ori- 
gin of our Celts. For my part at least, I confess 
I am convinced by this quadruple evidence. 

It is to be presumed that the use of Dead Men's 
Trees and of posthumous drownings continued for 
centuries in ancient Gaul as well as in ancient 
Germany. About 1560 some Dutch laborers found, 



22 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



in examining a part of the Zuyder Zee, at a great 
depth, several trunks of trees which were man^el- 
ously well preserved and nearly petrified. Each 
one of these trunks had been occupied by a man, 
and contained some half-petrified fragments. It was 
evident that they had been carried down, trunk and 
man, by the Rhine, the Ganges of Germany. 




As recently as 1837 such Todtenbaume or Dead 
Men's Trees, well preserved by the peculiar nature 
of the soil, have been discovered in England, near 
Solby in Yorkshire, and still more recently, in 1848, 
on Mount Lupfen in the Grand Duchy of Baden. 

In face of such well authenticated evidence of 
Dead Men's Trees having been confided to the 
current of rivers or the bosom of the earth, it seems 
superfluous to ask for additional proof in support 
of the fact that cremation was practiced all over 
ancient Europe. Nor do I consider myself, as a 
collector of myths, bound to prove everything. I 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



23 



do not mean to speak, therefore, any further of 
Birthday Trees, of Dead Men's Trees, and of Fet- 
ich Trees, — which we shall moreover meet again 
presently, — and hasten on to other myths of far 
greater importance. 

The Druids now appear for the first time in 
Gaul and in Germany. 








II. 



The Druids and their Creed. — Esiis. — The Holy Oak. — The 
Pforzheim Lime Tree. — A Rival Plant. — The Mistletoe and the 
Anguinum. — The Oracle at Dodona. — Im7naculate Horses. — The 
Druidesses. — A late Elector. — Philatithropic Instittition of Hit- 
man Sacrifcei. — Second Drtiidical Epoch. 

The Druids were the first to bring to the Gauls as 
well as to the Germans religious truths, but their 
creed can be appreciated from no dogma of theirs; 
it must be judged by their rites. 

The first question is : Whence did the Druids 



28 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

come? Were they disciples of the Magi, and did 
they come from Persia? Such an origin has been 
claimed for them : or had they been initiated by Isis 
in her ancient mysteries, and did they come from 
Egypt ? This view also has its adherents. Or, 
finally, had they been driven towards Western Eu- 
rope by one of the last waves of immigration, which 
left India under the pressure of some new calam- 
ity ? Many think so. 

As it seems to be difficult to decide between these 
three suggestions, it might be worth while to try and 
reconcile them with each other. It is a long way 
from India to Germany and to Gaul, and there might 
have been many stopping places between the country 
from which they started and their future home. 

The Druids, like all other Celts, might very well 
have started from India, and choosing not the most 
direct way might have reached Europe only after 
making many a long halt in Persia and in Egypt. 

"If that can be admitted, then there is no difficulty 
in assuming that the first Celts might very well have 
taken with them from the banks of the Indus and 
the Ganges only a few fragments of a sickly materi- 
alism taught by false teachers outside of the temple, 
while the Druids might have been initiated within 
the temple itself, thus learning to know the true 
nature of the Deity. 

Their creed was founded upon a triple basis — one 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 29 

God ; the immortality of the soul ; and rewards 
and punishments in a future life. 

These sound doctrines, which are as old as the 
world and form the foundation of all human morality, 
had ever been maintained by their wise men. 

At a later period the Greeks, proud as they were 
of their Platonic philosophy, had not hesitated to 
acknowledge that they had obtained the first germ 
of it from the Celts, the Galati, and consequently 
from the Druids. One of the Fathers of the 
Church, Clement of Alexandria, openly admits that 
these same Celts had been orthodox in their religion, 
at least as far as their dogmas were concerned. 

By what name was the Supreme Being known to 
the Druids '^. They called it Esus, which means the 
Lord, or they gave it the simple designation of Teut 
(God). Through this Teut the German races be- 
came afterwards Teutons, the sons and followers 
of Teut, and even in our day they call themselves 
in their own language Teutsche or Deutsche. 

Three marvelously brief maxims contain almost 
the whole catechism of the Druids : Serve God ; 
Abstain from evil ; Be brave ! 

The Druids, being warriors as well as priests, 
displayed in the performance of their warlike priest- 
hood all the energy, the severity, and the authority 
which must needs accompany such a strange com- 
bination of powers. 



30 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

Holding all the power of the state in their hands, 
and speaking in the name of God, commanding the 
army, controlling the public treasury, and acting not 
only as judges but also as physicians, they punished 
heresy and rebellion, and ended lawsuits as well as 
diseases, by the death of the person most interested. 

Their laws, liberal and philanthropic in spite of 
their apparent severity, allowed a jury consisting of 
notables, to judge grave crimes ; this fact of a jury 
suggests naturally the idea of extenuating circum- 
stances, and thus the criminal, escaping more read- 
ily than the patient, frequently got off with a fine, 
if he was rich, or wdth banishment if he was poor. 

Nevertheless all the efforts of the Druids did not 
succeed in thoroughly eradicating Tree w^orship ; they 
w^ere thus led to adopt one tree, to the exclusion of 
all others, wdiich should rally around it the scattered 
adoration of all the nations. This official tree, a 
kind of green altar, on which God manifested him- 
self to his priests, w^as an oak, a strong, vigorous 
oak, the king of the forests. 

Thus the holy oak became known and honored; 
pious worshippers came by night, with torches in their 
hands, in long processions to present their offerings. 

This usage soon became general among all Celtic 
nations. Around these oaks the Druids formed 
sacred precincts within which they lived with their 
families, for they were married ; but they could have 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



31 



only one wife, while the other chieftains were gen- 
erally polygamists. 




But the oak, although thus enjoying preeminence 
over all other trees, was by no means exclusively 
worshipped everywhere. Perhaps from religious 
antagonism, or perhaps merely from local usage, 
some provinces of Gaul and of Italy preferred the 
beech and the elm. In Gaul especially, the elm 
prevailed over the oak, and even Christian France 
still continued for a long time to plant an elm tree 
before every newly built church, so as to draw God's 
blessing the more surely upon it; and down to the 
end of the Middle Ages courts of justice were 
always held under an elm tree. Hence the curious 



J 



32 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



French proverb, which did not always have the 
mocking sense in which it is used nowadays, wait 
for me under the elm tree! {Attendez-moi sous 
rorme) What was then a formal summons to ap- 
pear before a judge has now come to mean : Wait 



till doomsday. 




The ash tree, also, had its worshippers among the 
dwellers in high northern latitudes, and it was un- 
der the dense branches of an enormous ash tree 
that terrible Odin and his following of deities 
appeared in a dark cloud. 

Thus Tree worship appeared once more. It has 
ever since continued to flourish more or less in 
Germany, and even now exists to a certain extent. 
But it is not the oaks, nor the beech, nor the elm, 
nor the ash tree, which in our day receives the 
worship of the young especially — but the lime tree. 
The admirers of the lime tree carry their fervor to 
fanaticism and their fanaticism to murder. 1 had 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



33 



been unwilling to believe this. But this morning 
I opened my newspaper and there I found an ar- 
ticle, dated December 30, i860, and stating that a 
young man from Pforzheim, in the Palatinate, at- 




tempted to murder the mayor of his town by 
means of a revolver, the four barrels of which were 
loaded with as many leaden balls. When he was 
arrested, he declared that he had personally nothing 
to say against the burgomaster, but that the latter 

3 



34 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

had recently ordered certain lime trees to be cut 
down, that the good people of Pforzheim idolized 
these trees, and that he had determined to punish 
him for such profanation. 

The paper added : " This young man belongs to 
an honorable family, his antecedents are excellent, 
and he has never shown the slightest symptom of 
mental derangement." 

How, then does it come about that the lime tree 
should in our day, in the nineteenth century, call 
forth sentiments of such extreme violence? The 
reason is that Young Germany has proclaimed it 
to be the Tree of Love, because its leaves are shaped 
like hearts. 

If I were not afraid of getting myself into trouble, 
having a natural horror of all firearms, and espe- 
cially of four barrelled revolvers, I should mention 
here, that anatomists protest against this pretended 
resemblance of the leaf to the heart. In reality it 
looks much more like the ace of hearts, as it ter- 
minates below in a sharp point — but superstition 
prevails over anatomy, and teaches us once more 
that science ought not to meddle with things per- 
taining to love. 

The Druids' Oak, although less tempting to gallant 
comparisons, finally excited almost equal fanaticism. 
Processions and sacrifices became well nigh endless ; 
young maidens adorned it with garlands of flowers, 



interspersed with bracelets and necklaces, while 
warriors suspended in its branches the most pre- 
cious spoil they brought home from their battles. 
If a storm arose, the other trees of the forest 
seemed in good faith, humbly to bow down before 
their chief. 

And yet it had an enemy, a fierce, relentless 




enemy. An abject, little plant, unknown and mis- 
erable in appearance, came unceremoniously and 
made its home on its sacred branches and even on 
its august summit; there it lived on its life's blood, 
feeding on its sap, absorbing its substance, threaten- 



36 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

ing to impede its natural growth, and finally car- 
rying the impudence so far as to conceal the 
glossy leaves of the noble godlike tree under its 
own lustreless and viscous foliage. This hostile 
and impious plant w^as the Mistletoe, the mistletoe 
of the oak [Guythil). 

Other people, less intelligent and less sagacious 
than the Druids, would have freed the tree from 
this unwelcome and obnoxious visitor, by simply 
climbing up and cutting off the parasite by means 
of a pruning bill. This would have been irrever- 
ent as well as impolitic. What would the people 
have thought ? The people would most assuredly 
have reasoned, that the sacred tree had been ren- 
dered powerless, being unable to rid itself of its 
vermin. 

The Druids did much better. They treated the 
mistletoe very much as we, in our day, treat a for- 
midable member of the opposition ; they gave it a 
place in the sanctuary. The mistletoe was pro- 
claimed to be an official and sacred plant, and be- 
came an essential part of their worship. When it 
was to be detached from the tree, this was not 
done stealthily and by a mean iron bill-hook, but 
in the presence of all, amid public rejoicings and 
accompanied by solemn chants. The instrument 
was a golden reaping hook, and with it the Guyihil 
was carefully cut off at the base and gathered in 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



37 



linen veils. These veils became henceforth sacred, 
and were not allowed to be used for ordinary 
purposes. 

The Teutons who lived on the Rhine, obtained 
from the mistletoe a kind of glue, which they looked 
upon as a panacea against the sterility of women, 
the ravages of diseases, the effects of witchcraft, — 
and also as a means to catch birds. 

The Gauls, on 
the other hand, 
dried it carefully 
and put the dust 
into pretty little 
scent-bags, which 
they presented to 
each other as New 
Year's Gifts on the 
first day of the 
year. Hence, in 
some provinces of 
France, the cry is 

still heard, " Aguilanneuf " {ait gut Van neuf\ "Mis- 
tletoe for New Year!" 

Modern science treats mistletoe simply as a 
purgative, and thus attempts to prove that our an- 
cestors showed their affection to each other by 
exchanging presents of violent purgatives. 

The introduction of this parasite plant into the 




38 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



sanctuary became, however, very soon a public 
benefit. For the oak-mistletoe obtained ere long 
considerable commercial value, and at once counter- 
feiters (for even under the Druids there existed such 
men) went to work and gathered it from other 
trees also, from apple trees and pear trees, from 
nut trees and lime trees, from beeches, elms, and 
even larches. The consequence was, that owners 
of orchards as well as owners of forests, rejoiced in 
the trick, at which the Druids discreetly winked ; 
for they took advantage of the lesson. 

At one time venomous reptiles had become so 




numerous in the regions of the Rhine, that they 
caused continually serious accidents among the 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 39 

people, the majority of whom Hved all day long in 
the open air, and did not always sleep under shelter. 
During their winter sleep, these reptiles rolled 
themselves up into vast balls, and became appar- 
ently glued to each other by a kind of viscous 
ooze. In this state they were called by the Celts 
Serpents Eggs, or rather Serpents' Knots, while 
the Romans called them anguinum. 

These strange balls were used medicinally by the 
Druids like the mistletoe ; they employed them 
even in their religious ceremonies, and soon they 
became so rare, that only the wealthiest people 
could procure them, by paying their weight in gold. 
If the Druids had really at first been misled so as 
to adopt superstitious customs, which they repented 
of in their hearts, they soon found means to make 
these same superstitious rites beneficial to the 
people. 

Unfortunately serpents' knots, oaks, and their 
parasites, did not long satisfy a people ever desir- 
ous of new things. It is a well-known fact that 
innovations, however small may have been their 
first beginning, are sure to go on enlarging and 
increasing from day to day. 

The old party of Tree worshippers, still numer- 
ous and very active as all old parties are, com- 
plained of the suppression of their companion-trees, 
the ancient family oracles, for the purpose of fa- 



40 MYTHS OF THE RHIXE. 

voring one single oak tree, — a tree which yet was 
not able, in spite of all the privileges it enjoyed, 
to put them into communication with Esics, the god 
of heaven. 

This complaint was certainly not unfounded; — 
it had to be answered. 

The Druids consisted of three classes : — 

The Druids proper {Eubages, they were called in 
Gaul) were philosophers as well as scholars, perhaps 
even magicians, for magic was at that time nothing 
more than the outward form of science. They 
were charged with the maintenance of the princi- 
ples of morality, and had to study the secrets of 
nature. The Prophets, on the other hand, knew 
how to interpret in the slightest breath of wind, the 
language of the holy oak, which spoke to them in 
the rustling of its leaves, in the soughing of the 
branches, in the low cracking heard within the 
trunk, and even in the earlier or later appearance 
of the foliage. There were, finally, the Bards, poets 
bound to the altar. 

While the bards were singing around the oak, 
the prophets caused it to render its oracles. These 
oracles soon increased largely not only in Europe, 
but also in Asia Minor, where a Celtic colony, ac- 
cording to Herodotus, established in the land they 
had conquered the oracle of Dodona. Early Greece 
worshipped an oak tree, which Strabo, however, as- 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



41 



sures us was a beech. There is no disputing about 
trees any more than about colors ; but Homer calls 
it an oak, and an oak it must remain for us. 

This new movement, grafted upon the simple 
worship of the Druids, did not stop here. After 




having for some time been accustomed to converse 
with Teut by means of a tree, the Celts were nat- 
urally surprised at seeing that, while trees could 
speak, living creatures remained silent, and were 
apparently deprived of the power of foretelling the 
future. Certain chieftains, especially, felt aggrieved, 



42 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

upon setting out on a great campaign, that they 
were not allowed to carry the holy oak along with 
them, and in their intense devotion, fell upon the 
idea of consulting the nervous trembling of their 
horses and their sudden neighing in moments of 
surprise or terror, — for in order to be of prophetic 
nature the movements of the animals had to be 
involuntary and spontaneous. As this creed began 
to spread gradually, every man who was setting out 
on a journey or a warlike expedition mounted his 
horse in the firm conviction that he would be able 
to consult his four-footed prophet at any time dur- 
ing his absence from home, provided he was able 
to submit the omens to the learned interpretations 
of a soothsayer. 

The Druid priests were not long in becoming 
seriously alarmed at these travelling oracles, liable 
as they naturally were to contradict each other. 

As they had before chosen a single tree to be 
the sacred tree, so they now accepted as genuine 
omens only the symptoms noticed in certain horses 
which were bred within the sacred precincts and 
under their own eyes. 

These horses, of immaculate whiteness and raised 
at public expense, were not employed for any work, 
and never had to submit to saddle or bridle. Wild 
and untamed, they roamed with fluttering manes in 
perfect liberty through the lofty forests. The free- 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 43 

dom of their movements gave naturally a safer 
character to their omens, and thus these prophetic 
horses, which formed almost a part of the druidical 
clergy, enjoyed for a long time the highest author- 
ity in all Celtic countries, when suddenly one fine 
day new rivals arose. 

Other living creatures entered into competition 
with them, and these rivals of the horses were — 
shall I say it? — were women. These women 
discovered, all of a sudden, that they also were 
endowed, and in the very highest degree, with the 
gifts of second sight, of inspiration, intuition, and 
divination. 

When public opinion appealed to the Druids to 
give their views on this claim, they admitted, accord- 
ing to the statement of Tacitus, that women had 
something more instinctive and more divine in them 
than men, nay, even than horses. Their sensitive 
organization predisposed them to receive the gift 
of prophecy, and hence "women indeed act more 
readily from natural impulse, without reflection, 
than from thought or reason." 

This last explanation, improper in the highest 
degree, does not come from Tacitus, nor from my- 
self, God forbid! It is the exclusive property of 
the aforementioned Mr. Simon Pelloutier. Let 
every one be responsible for his own work ! 

The Druids treated the women just as they had 



44 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



treated the horses, the mistletoe, and the trees. 
They acknowledged as true prophetesses only those 
who were already under the direct influence of the 
holy place and the sacred oak; that is to say, their 
wives and their daughters. 

The principle of centralization of power is evi- 
dently not of modern origin. 

Thus, there were now Druidesses, as there had 
been Druids before. The latter 
became the teachers of the young 
men ; they taught their pupils the 
motions of the stars, the shape 
and extent of the earth, the divers 
products of nature, the history of 
their ancestors written in the form 
of poems which the bards recited; 
in fact, they taught them every- 
thing except reading and writing. 
Memory was as yet sufficient for 
all things. The priestesses, on 
the other hand, opened schools 
for the young girls ; they taught 
them to sing and to sew, they 
initiated them into religious ceremonies and con- 
fided to them the knowledge of simples ; nor was 
poetry neglected, as they had to learn by heart 
certain poems which were specially composed for 
their benefit. These verses, of somewhat doubtful 




MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 45 

lyrical character, probably taught them how to make 
bread, how to brew beer, and other small details of 
the kitchen and the house. 

The "Druidesses practiced also medicine. This 
threefold prerogative of being physicians, prophets, 
and preceptors, finally raised them so high in the 
estimation of the nation, that when the priests of 
Teut were compelled to abandon their sanctuaries, 
they did not hesitate to confide them to their 
guardianship. They even presided in their own 
right, at certain ceremonies. 

If one of them excelled by the frequency, the 
lucidity, and the reliability of her inspirations, as 
was the case at different times with the illustrious 
Aurinia, Velleda, and Ganna, whom the Roman 
emperors even deigned to consult through their am- 
bassadors, the proud Druids placed her with humble 
submission, at the head of their own college of 
priests. During this female dictatorship, she be- 
came the arbiter of the destiny of nations, decided 
on peace and war, and controlled all the move- 
ments of great armies. 

Caesar tells us that he once asked one of his 
German captives, why Ariovistus, their chieftain, 
had never yet dared to meet him in battle, and 
was told in reply, that the Druidesses, after a care- 
ful examination of the eddies and whirlpools of the 
Rhine, had forbid his engaging in action till the 



46 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



time of the new moon. As a matter of course, 
the shrewd general profited by this information, 
and when the new moon appeared, the Germans 
were in full flight. 




But the Rhine has not yet given its oracles, and 
the time has not yet come, when Ganna, Velleda, 
and Aurinia condescend to grant audiences to 
Roman ambassadors. 

We only wished to trace in a few outlines the 
future development of this institution of Druidesses, 
which we shall meet again in the days of its decline. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 47 

In the mean time, however, their influence and 
their power were daily growing. Were the Teutons 
at last satisfied ? By no means. In spite of all 
the skill displayed by their diviners and the Druid- 
esses, they came to the conclusion, that neither the 
trembling foliage of the holy oak, nor the sudden 
starts, the wild leaps, and the more or less pro- 
longed, loud neighings of the horses, afforded them 
sufficient excitement and perfectly reliable revela- 
tions. It occurred to them next, to consult animals, 
not in their outward manifestations, but in their 
still quivering entrails. This new ceremony could 
not fail to give to their religious worship a more 
serious aspect, and a certain savor of murder, which 
no doubt had its charms for a warlike people. 

The Druids yielded once more, but they felt 
discouraged. What had become of that grand 
philosophic religion, w^hich was content with prayer 
and meditation, and which they once — too fondly, 
perhaps — had hoped to be able to adapt to the 
nature of these barbarians 1 

They first consented to slay at the foot of the 
sacred oak, so long kept free from blood, a number 
of noxious beasts, like wolves, lynxes, and bears ; 
but the turn of domestic animals came ere long, 
and they began to sacrifice sheep, goats, and finally 
man's best companion in war, the horse. Not even 
the spotless white horses, heretofore looked upon 



48 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

with such profound and superstitious reverence, 
were spared any longer. 

And at each step forward in this bloody career, 
the Druids, always resisting, and always compelled 
to yield, made their last and their very last conces- 
sion, vainly hoping that they might thus retain for 
a little while longer the power, which they felt was 
fast slipping from their grasp. 

Encouraged by success, the reformers finally came 
to the question, whether the most acceptable offer- 
ing to be presented to God, was not the blood of 
man ? Is not man, of all created beings, the most 
noble and the most perfect ? Perhaps they were 
inclined to carry the argument still farther, and to 
reason that among all men the most worthy to be 
chosen and the most likely to be acceptable to God, 
were the Druids themselves? But they took care 
not to ask too much at once. They held this final 
consequence of a great principle in reserve, requir- 
ing for the present nothing more than a common 
victim, anything that might come in the way, pro- 
vided it was a human being. 

It might have been expected, that when this 
abominable demand was made to hallow murder 
by committing it in the name of Heaven, the de- 
scendants and heirs of the ancient sages would 
have remembered their noble ancestors who had 
put an end to the first and quite inoffensive super- 



stitions of the early Celts. They ought to have 
veiled their faces, drawn back with horror, and 
recovering for once their former energy, appealed 
by means of the holy oak, the spotless horses, the 
soothsayers and the Druidesses, nay of heaven and 
earth itself, to the whole nation, calling upon them 
to anathematize the infamous petitioners. But they 
did no such thing. On the contrary they hastened 
to legalize such savage bloodshed by their holy 
consent. One might almost be led to suspect that 
they had themselves, underhand, suggested the hor- 
rible idea. 

O ye hypocritical priests, ye false philosophers, 
ye tigers disguised as shepherds of the people ! 
. . . . But we must check our indignation. For 
who knows, but they may have been swayed not 
so much by an instinct of cruelty as by a lofty 
political, or even philanthropic principle ? Philan- 
thropic ? Yes, indeed ; we will explain. 

Among the Celts human life counted for little ; 
it was lavished in battles, it was cast away in duels. 
At the time when the Gauls held large national 
assemblies, they tried to secure punctual attendance 
by simply putting to death the man who was the 
last to come; he paid for all the tardy ones. I do 
not mean to propose such a plan at the present 
day; but after all it was an infallible and economi- 
cal measure. 
4 



50 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

The Teutons, on the other hand, bloodless in 
their national assemblies, after a battle in which 
they had been victorious, delighted in massacring 
all their prisoners. 

These massacres ceased from the time when the 
Druids claimed for themselves the exclusive right 
of human sacrifices. 

The good Esus, having become bloodthirsty, de- 
manded all the captives to be slain in expiation at 
his altar, and woe to him who dared to anticipate 
him in his wrath. Pie was excluded from the 
sacred precincts ; he was declared an impious, sac- 
rilegious person, who could no longer take his place 
among the citizens ; and he ran great risk of being 
forced to offer his own life in compensation for 
that which by his fault was wanting at the holo- 
caust. 

When this custom became once fully established, 
the prisoners of war were all delivered up to the 
high-priest, who chose from among them one or more 
to be slain as an offering. The victim was gener- 
ally one of the captive chieftains, and he was slain 
together with his war horse, so as to add to the 
impressiveness of the ceremony and to reconcile 
the spectators by the abundance of blood that was 
shed to the small number of victims. 

After having carefully examined the opened bod- 
ies of man and animal, the sacrificing priest, his 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 5 1 

beard and clothes saturated with blood, raised his 
bloody right hand to heaven and, reeking with 
murder and breathing carnage, he proclaimed that 
his god was satisfied. The remainder of the pris- 
oners were kept for another day, but that other 
day never came. 

Thus a new office had been created : that of a 
sacrificing priest. On both banks of the Rhine, in 
Germany as well as in Gaul, the Druids reserved 
this office for themselves ; in other Celtic countries, 
in Scandinavia and among the Scythians, women 
performed the terrible duty ; we all remember as a 
proof of it, Iphigenia of Tauris. 

Whatever we may think of this bloody innova- 
tion, it certainly benefited the prisoners, but the 
Druids obtained from it, after all, the greatest ad- 
vantage. Their power, which had been seriously 
undermined, step by step, was once more firmly 
established. The opposition, which had paid no 
attention to their remonstrances or their prayers, 
shrunk from their knives. 

From this moment begins the Second Period of 
the Druids. 

The bloody knife of the Druids remained long 
all powerful, but we need not follow its later fate. 
Caesar had conquered and pacified Gaul, and the 
successors of Augustus fulminated their Imperial 



52 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



decrees against the Druids, as slayers of men, while 
the same knife continued to shed the blood of the 
Germans. 







lll:,u, ..,//, 




III. 

A Visit to the Land of our Forefathers. — The two Banks 
of the Rhine. — Dndd Stones. — Weddings and Burials. — Xight 
Service. — A Demigod Glacier. — Social Duels. — A Country- 
woman of Aspasia. — Boudoir of a Celtic Lady. — The Bard's 
Story. — Teutons and Titans. — Earthquake. 



Any one who has ever travelled in my company, 
must know that I am apt to stray from my way, 
or at least to choose the longest route. I have a 
fancy to-day, to turn my eyes and my steps away 
from those sacred precincts of the Druids, which 



56 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



had become slaughter-houses and in which the 
hand that blessed was also the hand that killed. 

I desire to breathe an air less filled with the 
perfumes, or rather the fetid odor of sacrifices. 
Up there, on that hill-top, where the setting sun 
lights up the bright summit, I shall breathe more 
freely. 

Here I am. 

Beneath me the Rhine spreads out its two banks, 
not united yet by any bridge, and even without a 
ferry to bring the one nearer to the other. 

But on both sides, half hid under dense willow 
thickets and gigantic reeds, there lie, in many a 
shallow little bay, large numbers of tiny barks. 
These cunning looking boats belong to harmless 
fishermen in the daytime ; but at night they are 
filled with robbers and corsairs, who form in bands, 
cross over to the other side in search of booty, and 
even venture, if needs be, out into the Northern 
Sea. Just now nothing stirs ; the fishermen have 
gone home, the corsairs have not come forth. I 
look farther out. 

On the left bank there are some Gallic Celts 
encamped, with blue eyes, white skin, and abundant 
golden tresses. Almost naked, their principal gar- 
ment seems to be that immense shield, almost as 
long as their body, which shelters them on the march 
as well as when they are at rest, and which protects 



<j 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 57 

them against the sun and the enemy aUke. All of 
a sudden I hear them, with lips held close to one 
of the edges of their shields, utter sharp cries, 
which are taken up and repeated, from distance to 
distance, all the way down the river. To these 
cries, which no doubt represent their telegraphic 
system, there comes an answer from far sounding 
trumpets. 

Who are these other soldiers with the black hair 
and the bronzed complexions? Carefully arrayed 




in symmetrical lines they advance steadily, clad in 
brilliant armor, and carrying banners surmounted 
by golden eagles with half open wings. Has 
Caesar really succeeded, after ten years' warfare, in 
making himself master of Gaul as far as the banks 
of the Rhine.? I cannot doubt it; for at their 



58 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



approach, the Gauls lower their lance-heads, in 
token of their peaceful disposition, and allow them 
to pass. 

When they reach the river, the small Roman 
army pauses ; under the protection of this armed 
force a few men, dressed in simple tunics, with no 




arms but tablets, a style, and ropes for measuring 
the ground, go to work preparing a plan, perhaps 
for a bridge, perhaps for a town. 

German sentinels, take care! 

From the height of my hill I look down upon a 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 59 

narrow strip of land on the right bank of the river, 
and here I see several groups of men, scattered 
here and there in the woods and on the plain, 
who work under the superintendence of a Druid. 
Some are digging up the roots of trees which 
overshadow or impoverish the ground ; others draw 
long furrows with the iron of their ploughs. 
These laborers seem all to suffer from some re- 
straint which impedes their movements, but of 
which at this distance I can discover no cause. 

In order to meditate on this strange sight, I 
look around for a resting place. Half way up the 
hill I notice a small stone bench. As I draw 




nearer, the object grows in size and rises to such 
a height, that I should need a ladder if I wished 
to take possession of my seat. 

This apparent bench is a monument, a Druidical 
monument, and consists of two upright stones, on 
which rests a third, horizontal stone. In France, 
in England, and in Germany there are still found 



6o 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



such Druidical altars, cromlechs or dolmens ; these 
menhyrs astonished already Alexander of Macedonia 
when he marched through Scythia. In Bretagne, 
at Carnac, some of these stones, consisting of a 
single rock, rise by the wayside, as if to tell the 

traveller the story of the past, 
or they range themselves before 
his eyes in long lines, forming 
on the ground endless circles 
of emblematic meaning, as it is 
supposed. But the traveller can 
no longer understand their lan- 
guage. Was this an altar, or 
was it an idol, or perhaps only 
a simple monument raised over 
a grave. If they were altars, 
Carnac would be Olympus ; if 
they were tombstones, it would 
be a cemetery, 

I was going all around the 
mystic three stones to examine 
them more closely, when I no- 
ticed close by a flock of sheep, and then a shep- 
herd. 

This shepherd, covered with a ragged sagum, 
had on his feet leather sandals, a half open wound 
on his forehead, which had not yet had time to close, 
enhanced the fierceness of his appearance. His burn- 




MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



6i 



ing glances fell now upon the Druidical stone and 
now upon another object which I had not noticed 
before. This was the guard of a sword which had 
been driven into the ground. 

Could it be that this sword handle, and this 
stone resting upon two 
supports, were new con- 
cessions made by the pol- 
itic Druids '^. 

As according to their 
spiritualistic views God 
could not render himself 
visible in a shape resem- 
bling our own, they had 
represented him as well 
as they could by a sym- 
bol. It appeared thus that 
human sacrifices w^ere al- 
ready no longer sufficient 
to maintain their creed. 

While I was examining 
with growing curiosity this 

strange keeper of sheep, a young girl, tall and 
fair, with bare neck and bare feet, was busy watch- 
ing on the same side of the hill another flock, 
and at the same time gathering herbs for medic- 
inal purposes. When she was about to leave, 
she offered the shepherd to attend to his wound, 




62 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

but he refused haughtily ; she ran away laughing, 
and threw a flower into his face. 

He did not pick up that flower; he did not 
salute that pretty girl as she left him. He looked 
at her with disdain. 

Ah! I can doubt it no longer; this unhappy 
man is like the wood-cutter in the for.est, and the 
laborers in the field, one of those prisoners taken 
in war, whom the Druids have spared, and now 
render useful. His closely shorn hair, his open 
wound, and the heavy w^ooden yoke which he 
has to carry on his neck, all betray his sad fate. 
He has made no reply to the half pitiful, half co- 
quettish advances of the pretty gatherer of simples, 
because she has only awakened in his heart pain- 
ful memories of his distant love, or of his wife, 
whom he is never to see again! He has cast 
glances of fierce hatred and burning revenge at 
the Druidical altar and the handle of the sword, 
because both of these objects point out the place 
of bloody sacrifices. Does he think he is himself 
destined to be slain ? or was perhaps the warrior 
whom they slew yesterday, a man of his own 
tribe, his best friend, his own brother.'^ 

But I have taken refuge here in order to 
escape from these painful thoughts of blood and 
murder. I propose to seek new objects of interest. 

Farther down, nearly at the foot of the hill, I 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



63 



see a few huts, or rather a few low, almost crushed 
roofs, which seem hardly to rise from the ground. 
Are they houses, or stables, or caves ? 

On the left bank Gauls and Romans have alike 
disappeared in the mists rising from the river. 
On the right bank the wood-cutters and the field- 
laborors are resting upon their axes or their ploughs. 




and seem to ask the sun if the day is not drawing 
to an end. 

A breeze is springing up, the shepherd gathers 
his flock and, as mournful as ever, he slowly takes 



64 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

the footpath that leads down the hill towards the 
village. 

I follow him without knowing what mysterious 
power draws me in that direction. 

Perhaps some Druid magician holds me under 
a potent spell, which enables me to forget who I 
am, whence I come, and even to w^hat century I 
belong, and to witness these strange scenes, which, 
well nigh forgotten by all living beings, I alone am 
permitted to watch? Let me try, at all events, to 
profit by this rare piece of good fortune. 

I reach the low village and find it occupied by 
a colony of Salic Franks, who live scattered all 
along the Rhine. With their eyes fixed upon the 
left bank, they are just now far more occupied with 
the invasion of Germany by the Romans, than with 
the thought of invading Gaul themselves. 
. I feel suddenly a deep interest in these people. 
What Frenchman of this nineteenth century can 
feel sure that the blood in his veins is not the 
same that once gave life and strength to these 
terrible warriors from the North, Franks or Gauls.? 
We are all natives of one or the other bank of this 
great river Rhine, and feel towards each other, 
whether we live on the right or the left bank, very 
much like school-boys whose friendship is cemented 
by many a battle royal. 

Being a Frenchman, I feel that I am about to 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 65 

pay a visit to my paternal ancestors — for the 
Franks have given us our name. No wonder that 
I feel deeply moved. 

I examine the low huts of the village, if village 
it can be called, and find that they are separated 
from each other by commons and by fields, and 
that they finally lose themselves in the open coun- 
try. Where now these scattered huts are standing, 
there may be one of these days a Mayence or a 
Cologne, and yet they will occupy no larger space 
with all their suburbs included. 

On both sides of the road extend orchards, 
fenced in with reeds and all aglow with blooming 
apple trees ; dark, sombre pine forests and swamps, 
the greenish waters of which are confined within 
slight dams ; here and there the live rock crops 
out from the ground and interrupts the road, or 
huge trees are lying across, recently cut down and 
but just deprived of their branches. In the open 
pasture grounds huge buffaloes are lying about 
snorting and panting with fatigue, for they have 
worked all day in the plough ; the neighing of 
horses is heard from one end of the country to 
the other, and gradually dies out as the sun sinks 
below the horizon ; lean heifers, with long, spiral 
horns, push here and there their heads through 
the fence of the orchards to have a last bite at the 
tender foliage of the reeds, and small oxen of an 



66 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



inferior breed return to their quarters at the same 
time with the sheep, quite content to browse on 
the grass by the wayside, while herds of swine are 
wallowing in the mire of the low grounds. 




The landscape resembles parts of Bretagne and 
of Normandy; but these provinces have no such 
huts. To see a human habitation, you have to 
rise high above the fences and hedges and then 
look down upon the ground. 

At a place where two roads meet, the cracking 
of a whip is heard ; hogs, sheep, and small oxen 
are driven aside to make way for a kind of pro- 
cession, consisting of grave and solemn men and 
women, who almost all wear a look of consternation. 

It is a wedding. 

Two young people have just had their union 
blessed by the priests under the sacred oak. The 
bride is dressed in black, and wears a wreath of 
dark leaves on her head ; she walks in the midst 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



67 



of her friends, bent double, as if weighed down by 
overwhelming thoughts. A matron, who walks on 
her left, holds before her eyes a white cloth ; it is 
a shroud, the shroud in which she will be buried 
one of these days. On her right, a Druid intones 
a chant, in which he enumerates, in solemn rhythm, 
all the troubles and all the anxieties which await 
her in wedded life. 

" From this day, young wife, thou alone wilt have 
to bear all the burden of your united household. 

" You will have ^_^ 
to attend the bak- ^^"""^^^^ 
ing oven, to pro- 
vide fuel, and to go 
in search of food ; 
you will have to 
prepare the resin- 
ous torch and the 
lamp. 

" You will wash 
the linen at the 
fountain, and you will make up all the clothing ; 

" You will attend to the cow, and even to the 
horse if your husband requires it ; 

" Always full of respect, you will wait upon him, 
standing behind him, at his meals ; 

" If he chooses to take more wives, you will re- 
ceive your new companions with sweetness ; 




68 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



" If needs be, you will even offer to nurse the 
children of these favorites, and all from obedience to 
your karl (master); 

" If he is angry against you and strikes you, you 
will pray to Esus, the only God, but you will never 
blame your husband, who cannot do wrong. 

" If he expresses a wish to take you with him 
to war, you will accompany him to carry his bag- 
gage, to keep his arms in good condition, and to 
nurse him if he should be sick or wounded ; 

" Happiness consists in the fulfillment of duty. 
Be happy, my child ! " 




When I heard this dolorous wedding song, w^hich 
in some parts of France is to this day addressed 
to brides by local minstrels, when I saw this wind- 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



69 



ing-sheet, the mournful costumes and the whole 
funereal wedding procession, I felt overcome with 
sadness. Just then, cries and joyous acclamations 
were heard at some little distance. 

Another procession came from the opposite di- 
rection to the cross-roads ; there all the faces were 
smiling and full of joyousness. 

This was a funeral. 

Such were the ways of our fathers ; they rejoiced 
in facing death, which 
relieves man from all 
his sufferings ; they 
had nothing but tears 
for man when he en- 
tered upon his trials. 

In the meantime the 
twilight had passed 
into darkness. Small 
lights, looking like 
will-o'-the-wisps, were 
flitting to and fro in 
field and forest, going 
in all directions. De- 
vout worshippers, car- 
rying torches or lan- 
terns in their hands, 

were going to consecrated places, to hold public 
worship or to recite private prayers. 




70 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



Some, and these were the majority, go in the 
direction of the oak forests, where the Druids are 
found ; others, conceaHng the Hght of their lanterns 
as well as they can, go hither and thither, towards 
the copses of beeches and pine trees, or towards 
the river, or towards the hill, which was but just 
now shining brightly in the sunlight, but is now 




concealed in utter darkness. What are they goino- 
to do ? They are going to worship the Rhine, the 
wells, the water-courses, the trees, the Druidical 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 7 1 



altars, and the sword-guards. For no creed yet but 
has had its schisms. 

Orthodox or not, German or GalHc, the Franks 
have ahvays shown a preference for nocturnal wor- 
ship ; they divide the year into moons, and count 
the moons not by days but by nights. And yet 
they have been suspected of worshipping the sun ! 
And I had nearly fallen into the same error ! 
How well it was that I came to see for myself ! 

As I am just now more interested in watching 
manners than in studying mythology, I pursue my 
investigations, especially as I know very well that 
we must know the lives which people lead in order 
to be able fully to appreciate the objects of their 
w^orship. 

While all these small lights are flashing, like 
shooting stars, here and there through the land- 
scape, certain specially bright lights seem to become 
stationary and permanent. These are the lighted- 
up windows of human habitations. I called the 
latter just now stables, or caves, and excepting a 
few of them, I must still call them such. 

They are dug out of the ground, damp and dark ; 
their ceilino^ is on a level with the surface of the 
earth, and their roof consists of layers of turf, or of 
dry thatch covered with moss. The only door 
resembles the lid of a snuff-box, and is set in the 
roof on a level with the ground. The dwelling 



72 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



has no light but such as enters through these trap- 
doors ; consequently they are utterly dark during the 
whole rainy season and during winter, that is to say, 
for three fourths of the year! Darkness reigns su- 
preme here ; that darkness which is the enemy of 
all healthfulness, of enjoyment, of every comfort. 
No windows ! No glass ! O divine Apollo, — 

" Thou of the silver bow, god of Claros, hear ! " 

I never had any objection to the doctrine which 
made of you, the brilliant personification of the sun, 




a first class divinity ; but I think like honors ought 
to have been bestowed upon the unknown man 
who first invented windows and window-panes, the 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 73 

first glazier in fine. He ought at least to have 
been made a demigod, and if he had to remain a 
simple mortal, they ought surely to have remem- 
bered his name! Alas! that high honors are as 
unfairly distributed in heaven as upon earth ! 

As there is no window, I peep through the trap- 
door to see how these subterranean dwellings look 
inside. The aspect is far from being as wretched 
as I had expected. I find that the walls are hung 
with mattings and the floor is beaten hard; by the 
side of the smoking lamp which is suspended from 
the main beam of the ceiling, there are hanging, 
on hooks, a hindquarter of venison, baskets filled 
with provisions, and implements for fishing and 
hunting. Besides, I notice long strings of medici- 
nal herbs, such as we see in the shops of herb- 
doctors, and among these plants the mistletoe oc- 
cupies, as a matter of course, the place of honor. 

In another underground hut there appear ac- 
tually some traces of luxury. Here the walls are 
incrusted with pebbles from the Rhine, of many 
colors and skillfully arranged ; here and there weap- 
ons are arranged in various shapes ; javelins wath 
sharp hooks ; framees, such as the ancient Franks 
were using; hatchets of stone or iron; "morning 
stars," with sharp points, were pleasantly mingled 
with huge bucklers; large leather quivers and long 
arrow^s feathered at one end and with jagged teeth 



74 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

at the other. At first sight it looks as if for the 
purpose of softening somewhat the threatening as- 
pect of these panophes, the Celtic lady of the house 
had added some of her jewels to these weapons. 
But it is not so ; these gold chains, these necklaces 
set with onyx and rubies, are worn by the grim 
w^arriors on the day of battle, quite as much in the 
nature of ornaments as for the purpose of protec- 
tion. One of our sober, I may say, most sober 
historians, ascribes to this custom of our forefathers, 
the Franks, the gorget, worn still by officers in 
some European armies. Here also I see straw 
mats, but here they are trod under foot ; they are 
used as carpets,, not as hangings. 

The deep and spacious dwelling contains, besides 
the large room w^hich alone I can see through my 
dormer-window, a number of other rooms on all 
sides, or rather of other caves, which are all con- 
nected with each other. I am evidently before the 
palace of one of the chief men of the country. 

In the first hut, into which I had looked, I had 
found the people at table, drinking a beverage made 
from grain and herbs — cerevisia — in horns of wild 
bulls, and talking about business — for our ancestors 
talked about business at dinner, just as we do. The 
conversation turned about exchanges of rams, a 
great fishing expedition to be undertaken jointly, an 
invasion to be made into the territory on the other 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 77 



bank of the river, and most eagerly, about the ap- 
proaching elections. For Montesquieu tells us that 
municipal and even constitutional government ex- 
isted alike among the early Germans. 

In the other dwelling, the one adorned with 
panoplies, they were talking neither of elections, 
nor of fishing, but they were likewise at table. 
Here they drank not only cerevisia in the hor^is 
of the brave, but also hydromel and hippocras in 
leathern tankards or human skulls, as w^iite as 
ivory, adorned with silver and naturally shaped like 
cups. God be thanked that this custom has not 
been bequeathed to us by the Franks ! 

On that evening they were celebrating the wel- 
come given to a young warrior who had already 
made himself known by great exploits and who 
belonged to a neighboring, friendly tribe. 

When the meal was ended, and what a meal it 
was ! — I shall be careful not to give the bill of 
fare, since the mere recital would cause an indiges- 
tion, — they thought of prolonging the entertain- 
ment given to their illustrious guest. But what 
could they do } The young Frankish ladies were 
not familiar yet with the piano, and the noble game 
of billiards had not yet been invented. They pro- 
posed riddles to be guessed, but this did not seem 
to afford much amusement to the young man. 
Then came a game with bones ; but he nearly fell 



asleep. As the duty of hospitality required that 
they should make every possible effort to entertain 
their guest, a great man among the Cheruski or 
the Marcomanni, they proposed the handkerchief ; 
this seemed to arouse his attention. 

The handkerchief game was at that time very 
popular; it was a kind of company duel. Two 
kind-hearted adversaries, having no other motive 
but to amuse themselves and to entertain the com- 
pany, would seize with their left hand one end of 
a handkerchief, and with their right hand a table 
knife or a hunting knife, it did not matter which, 
provided the weapon was sharp and very pointed. 
For our good ancestors did not know foils with 
cork buttons or other arms of courtesy. Imbued 
with the .strange idea that to fight, man against 
man, or a thousand against a thousand, was the 
greatest happiness upon earth, they delighted in 
occasionally cutting each other's throat, even if 
they were the best friends in the world. 

The spectators formed a ring around the com- 
batants. After they had taken a solemn oath, by 
the rims of their bucklers, by the shoulders of 
their horses, and by the points of their swords, 
that they cherished no feeling of animosity against 
each other, a signal was given and the game com- 
menced. For some time I saw how the handker- 
chief was stretched out, twisted and then suddenlv 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 79 

turned around and around rapidly. Light red lines 
had already begun to mark the skin of the two 
adversaries ; the blood was trickling down their 
arms, but these wounds were such trifles that the 
spectators took no notice of them and uttered not 
a single exclamation. 

All of a sudden I heard three hurrahs in rapid 
succession ; the welcomed guest, whom all had 
been striving to honor to the utmost of their 
capacity, had fallen down with his adversary's knife 
still sticking in his breast. He w^as dead. 

They had not been able to think of any better 
way to make him spend a pleasant evening. The 
good old times had a hospitality of their own ! 

This pleasant handkerchief game has survived, 
only slightly modified, in several countries of north- 
ern Europe. The handkerchief is generally wrapped 
around a rapier, so as to shorten the length of the 
blade. In the taverns of Holland the game is con- 
sidered conducive to health ; a knife wound eives 
a man a chance to escape apoplexy ; it serves as a 
timely bleeding. 

I had run away in horror. For an hour I wan- 
dered about, casting a furtive glance dow^n a trap- 
door here and there, and almost everywhere I saw 
men and women, horses and cattle, enjoying their 
rest, lying pell-mell on the same litter. 

In one of these hovels I thought I recognized 



8o 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



the young girl whom I had seen on the hill ; her 
attitude of repose gave a peculiar charm to her 
supple and delicate limbs, and by the feeble flick- 
ering light of the lamp, she suggested the idea of 
a sleeping nymph. 

She was a young Ionian girl, a countrywoman of 
Aspasia ; captured in war, she had been sold as a 




slave in twenty markets, developing in spite of such 
treatment, one grace and one beauty after another. 
On the banks of the Ilyssus, they would have 
erected an altar in her honor, on the banks of 
the Rhine they made her keep a herd of swine. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 8 1 

She was not the only one of her sex, however, 
whom I saw during that fantastic night. 

The sound of a shrill fife, mingling with the 
sweeter notes of a harp, attracted my attention. 
I went toward the spot from which the music came. 

In a little room decked with flowers, a young 
woman was engaged in her toilet. 

I ought to have fled once more, — this time 
from bashfulness or a sense of propriety, — but a 
conscientious historian is bound to overcome every 
difficulty, in order to ascertain the exact truth. 
It was a great piece of good luck, surely, to be able 
to report as an eye-witness, w^hat might be seen in 
the boudoir of a Celtic lady. 

My friend was sitting, half undressed, on a stool, 
with her hair loosened, and holding in her hand 
a metal mirror. An old woman, a servant or her 
mother, I cannot tell which — and yet it seemed to 
me as if I had seen both these women, as well as 
the beautiful swine-herd, somewhere before; when 
that was, however, I could not possibly tell — the 
old woman held the whole rich abundance of the 
young lady's hair in both her hands and rubbed it 
with a horrid mixture of tallow, ashes, and plaster. 
Thanks to this wretched pomatum, the beautiful 
hair gradually changed from pale blonde to intense 
red, and thus enabled the owner to comply with a 
fashion, which I do not presume to criticise, but 



82 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



simply record here. Then she washed and combed 
it carefully, plaited it cunningly, and at last rubbed 
the shoulders and the neck of the beauty with 
melted butter, while she washed the face and the 
hands with foaming beer. 

After the demands of cleanliness had thus been 




satisfied, she placed before her mistress a slight 
collation, which was promptly served and promptly 
dispatched. While she was thus attending to her 
toilet and disposing of a bird's meal, there was a Cy- 
clopean feast going on in an adjoining room ; loud 
and violent voices were heard, everybody seemed 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 83 



to talk at once, and in such high tones that even the 
shrill fife could no longer be distinguished — for it 
was from this hall that the sound of music pro- 
ceeded, which had attracted me to the dwelling. 

The old woman evidently thought the feast was 
drawino: to an end, for she hastened to finish her 
mistress's toilet. She opened a wooden box and 
drew from it a pair of pretty red boots, which she 
put on the feet of the young beauty ; then she 
threw over her white dress a purple scarf, which 
she fastened on the left shoulder with a long thorn 
from a sloe-tree. After that she tied a narrow scar- 
let ribbon around her head, handed her a collar and 
bracelets made of small berries, which in form and 
color were strikingly like corals, and finally, as the 
finishing touch, she daubed her cheeks with red 
by means of a cosmetic which I suspect consisted 
largely of brickdust. When the young Prankish 
beauty found that there was enough red — scarlet, 
crimson, purple, and pink — on her person from 
head to foot, she uttered a cry of triumph, es- 
pecially when her husband, who entered her room, 
followed by his guests, seemed to be quite dazzled 
by the resplendent charms of his lovely wife, whom 
he had just bought. 

To buy a woman was a familiar expression in 
Germany at that time, as it is now, — Eiii lucib 
kaufen. It must be borne in mind, however, that 



84 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. ^ 

in those days the bride brought no dower ; on the 
contrary, the husband paid her family a certain 
sum as compensation. We have inherited many of 
our usages from our Celtic forefathers ; but as to this 
custom, we have not thought proper to keep it up. 

I at once recognized the husband, although he 
was now all smiles in his face, and let us hope, all 
smiles in his heart also. He was the chief person- 
age in the wedding procession, whom I had seen 
two hours before, looking so grave and solemn, so 
sad and mournful. 

According to Druidical regulations, the bride has 
first of all waited upon him at table, humbly stand- 
ing behind liim like the other house slaves ; then, 
towards the middle of the repast, she had gone to 
her room in order to exchange her girlish costume 
for the dress of a married woman — a woman who 
has the right to follow the fashions and to dress 
herself up in red from the heels of her feet to the 
end of her hair. 

Now she receives her master at home; here she 
is mistress, and mistress she will remain. This 
was the rule among the Franks ; for in spite of the 
lachrymose anthems of the bards and in spite of 
the sombre ceremonies of the wedding, the women 
became almost invariably the masters at home, a 
usage which, contrary to that of dowerless girls, may 
possibly have crossed the Rhine. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



85 



Thinking it over, I found that during my noc- 
turnal excursion into the land of my forefathers, I 
had been present — as a witness only, be it under- 
stood — at three successive entertainments ; a feast 
of welcome, a business dinner, and a wedding din- 
ner. Although they had not been calculated to 
satisfy my appetite, they had, at all events, made me 
extremely hungry. I was thinking, therefore, of 
retracing my steps and look- 
ing for a lodging, when I 
saw the Druid-bard, w4io had 
not disdained taking a seat 
at the nuptial feast, coming 
slowly and solemnly to the 
centre of the room, all the 
while drawing a few accords 
from a kind of harp, which 
consisted of a closely bent 
bow with three strings in- 
stead of one. 

He was getting ready to charm the company 
with the recital of one of those long and myste- 
rious poems which recount the history of the Celts. 
I delay my departure. 

It has been said, and not without a show of 
reason, that the history of our Gallic or Germanic 
ancestors ought to be for us a subject of deep in- 
terest; but bold minds have in vain tried to raise 




86 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

up once more the old oak tree, to trim it and to 
let air and light enter within its canopy of leaves. 
The birds that once sang in its branches have left 
no trace behind them of their songs, and nothing 
has reached us from those sacred precincts but a 
few faint echoes. 

I certainly have reason to praise my good for- 
tune ! What all these great scholars, these learned 
men, have not been able to accomplish by dint of 
energy and perseverance and aided by all their 
knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit, I (I, the 
man whom you know) am enabled to do ! Thanks 
to the bard's long recital, I am able to fill up 
this blank, — the first, the only man in the history 
of mankind, who can throw light upon the impen- 
etrable darkness of those ages ! 

The bard began. I listened, all attention and 
eagerness, trying to catch every sound and to im- 
press every word upon my excellent memory. 

In a pompous introduction he told us all about 
the first arrival of the Celts in Europe, the coming 
of the Druids as apostles of the true faith ; he told 
us how a great colony of Salic Franks, Gauls, 
under the collective name of Pelasgi, all children 
of Teut, or Teutons, had first planted a sacred oak 
at Dodona. On this point I was already well in- 
formed. He then alluded to the building up of 
Athens, due as much to the Teutons as to the 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 87 

Greeks of Cecrops; he boasted, that when the 
Greeks were led astray by their corrupt imagina- 
tion and wished to raise altars to Saturn, Jupiter, 
and all those false gods whom they had borrowe-f^ 
from the Egyptians and the Phoenicians, the Teu- 
tons rose in the name of outraged human veason, 
and proclaimed the only one God, breaking down 
all the false altars. Hence, he said, that formi- 
dable struggle, still so well known as the battle of 
the gods of Olympus against the Teiitons or Ti- 
tans 

I held my breath. What ? Those terrible giants, 
those colossal men, whom Jupiter himself feared 
and who piled Ossa upon Pelion, or Pelion upon 
Ossa — they were Celts ? They were the ancestors 
of the brave French ? 

O Titans, O my brothers, with what delight I 
listened to the sacred words of the bard, so that I 
might repeat them to you and rejoice with you in 
our glorious descent ! 

By special grace I understood the Germano- 
Celtic words of the bard without difficulty. But 
the poem was flowing on interminably ; I began to 
mistrust my memory. Centuries succeeded centu- 
ries, events followed events, and they were as close 
to each other and as numerous as grains in a bag 
of wheat. The continuous exertion of all my fac- 
ulties began to tell upon me. The most illustrious 



88 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



heroes of Gaul and of Germany appeared to me 
soon only like the faint forms seen by means of 
a magic lantern ; Sigovesus and Bellovesus, the 
descendants of the great king Ambigat ; Brennus, 
Bt.lgius, and Lutharius, sons or sons-in-law of that 
other 2'i"Gat king Cambaules, began to turn around 
and arou-id in my head, holding each other by the 
hand and performing an old British dance to the 
music of an old Breton instrument. Ariovistus 
played on the dmiou. Then the sounds of the 
biniou, the shrill tones of the fife and the Druid 
harp were broken in upon by a terrible noise of 
countless church bells ; the air shook all of a sud- 
den, the earth trembled, everything around me fell 
to the ground with a great crash, the Druid, the 
house of the wedding, the trap-door, the hamlet, 
the trees, the hill, the Rhine and its banks, the 
heaven and the stars, all disappeared at the same 
moment, and I awoke in my arm-chair, surrounded 
by my poor books, w^hich had just fallen from my 
knees. 

The dinner bell was still ringing. 




IV. 

The Romax Gods invade Germany. — Driisus and the Druidess. — 
Ogmius, the Hercules of Gaul. — Great Philological Discovery con- 
cerniftg Teutates. — Transfonnations of every kind. — Irmen- 
SUL. — The Rhine deified. — The Gods cross the River. — Dricids 
of the Third Epoch. 

You may rest assured, I did not merely dream 
of that bold transformation of Teutons into Titans ; 
one of the most learned and most reliable authors 
in my library, assures me of the fact. These great 
scholars are sometimes very clever men. 

According to this authority, the Celts were very 
much taller than the Greeks, and this fact had 
naturally suggested to the latter the idea of speak- 
ing of them as giants. The Celtic Pelasgi, who 
were warlike shepherds like all the men of their 
race, usually watched their flocks as they were 



grazing on the high mountains, and it was these 
mountains which the myth accused them of pihng 
up, one upon another, to scale the heavens. You 
will say. What mad follies of poets ! I grant this ; 
but after these mad poets came men like Hesiod 
and Homer, who changed the idle dream into stern 
reality, and upon this rock a new religion was 
founded, and with it, a new civilization. 

Now the day has come when these same gods 
of Greece, having become the gods of great Rome, 
will pursue the Titans, or Teutons, to the very 
heart of Germany. 

It is well known that Caesar, after having con- 
quered Gaul, had promptly crossed the Rhine, 
rather for the purpose of making a reconnaissance 
on the opposite bank of the river, than with any 
view to conquest. His successor went farther into 
Germany. Drusus, the adopted son of Augustus, 
and his lieutenant, reached the banks of the river 
Elbe, pursuing the Franks, the Teutons, the Bur- 
gundians, the Cheruski, the Marcomanni, all those 
children of the same great family, who had been 
overcome, put to flight, but never subjugated. All 
of a sudden, at the very moment when he is about 
to cross the river, there comes forth from the dark, 
dense forest, not a new army of barbarians, bris- 
tling with spears and halberts, but a woman, a tall, 
haughty looking woman, with long disheveled hair 



^.^b^K-%i.J..M 




•s^^'-* 






A DRUIDESS ENDOWED WITH THE GIFT OF PROPHECY. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 95 



flowing down upon her bare shoulders, and on her 
brow a crown of simple oak branches. 

She steps across his path and with uplifted fin- 
ger orders him in an imperious voice to turn back 
and to go to his camp to prepare for death. 

It was a Druidess, endowed in the highest de- 
gree with the gift of prophecy ; so it would seem 
at least, for Drusus had hardly entered the Roman 
camp, when he fell from his horse and expired. 

Not all the Druidesses, however, succeeded in 
making the Roman generals go back, by a word 
or a gesture; nor did all the Roman generals fall 
from their horses and die. After fifty-five years of 
strangely varying fortunes, the Genius of Rome 
was victorious, and must needs have been victorious, 
for it led the whole world by its power. It brought 
with it also its gods, which in spite of their num- 
bers, or rather perhaps because they w^ere so nu- 
merous, met on the banks of the Rhine with a 
more determined resistance than its soldiers. 

Rome had a magnificent mission to fulfill. Her 
glorious duty upon earth was to restore the unity 
of all the great human families, and to improve 
their condition bv brinmno: them in contact with 
each other — by fraternity, in fine. To attain this 
end, she had generally employed War as her prin- 
cipal instrument; Religion had been a subsidiary 
agent only, a weapon which she kept concealed, 



96 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



but which she used with great efficacy to secure 
the permanency of her conquests. 

Unfortunately, Roman gods were as liable to 
corruption, and to fearful corruption, as the great 
men of the Empire. Nations rise step by step 
on the grand ladder of civilization ; when they have 
reached the top they must keep up their activity, 
without which no life and no progress can be main- 
tained, and thus the moment comes when they are 
forced to descend again, till at last they sink into 
sensual degradation, into erudite, refined, voluptu- 
ous barbarism — the very bottom of the ladder. 

Rome had begun by raising altars to all the 
virtues ; now her deities personified nothing but 
vices. How could they expect to introduce them 




and make them acceptable to these coarse Ger- 
mans, among w^hom prostitution, adultery, and theft 
were hardly known by name, who allowed a woman 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 97 

to claim hospitality at the house of any Karl, to 
rest under his roof, and even to share his couch, 
without fearing slander, if he had but put a naked 
sword between her and himself, and who had never 
known and could not know the use of locks and 
keys ? Were they not accustomed to hang their 
most valuable possessions upon the branches of a 
consecrated tree in the open camp, or to place 
them on top of a druidical stone or beneath it, 
as they chose — knowing that there they were per- 
fectly safe ? When they had taken this simple 
precaution, they could go to bed and sleep quietly, 
and there was no need for putting a sentinel on 
guard. 

Already, in the days of Caesar, the Romans had 
employed a very ingenious and cunning device, in 
order to win over the simple Gauls. They had 
pretended to find their gods, their own peculiar 
gods, already established in the country from olden 
times. Thus there existed in Gaul a statue which 
the Etrusci had erected in honor of Ogmius, or 
rather Ogjna. The Greek Lucian mentions it in 
these words : — 

" It is a decrepit old man ; his skin is black ; 
this form of a man, however, wears the attributes 
of Hercules, the lion's skin and the club. 

" I thought at first," Lucian adds, " that the Celts 
had invented this odd figure in order to laugh at 



98 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



the gods of Greece ; but this so-called Hercules, 
who is of very great antiquity, drags after him a 
multitude of men, whom he leads by golden chains 
which he holds in his mouth, while they are fastened 
to the ears of his victims." 




This Ogmius was evidently a typical representa- 
tion of Druidism itself; Ogma, in Celtic languages, 
means both science and eloquence. What has Her- 
cules to do with all this ? Nevertheless the Romans 
insisted upon calling him by that name. 

Nor did they stop here. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



99 



When they found all the nations they had con- 
quered were continually speaking of a certain Teu- 
tates, they at once declared that they recognized in 
this popular person their own god Mercury. It was 
he and no other! It was Mercury, the son of Jupi- 
ter and the nymph Maia. There was a striking 
resemblance, an unmistakable analogy! No one 
could misapprehend the thing for an instant! 




Oh, my good Romans, I don't mean to blame you 
now for all the trouble you gave me when I was at 
colleire ! I will forcret all that — But what could 
make you conceive this stupid idea, of naturalizing 
among us your Mercury, the god of eloquence, if 



lOO 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



you choose, but above all the ever ready pimp of 
Jupiter, the god of trade and of thieves, and of 
naturalizing him in a land where trade, love, and 
thieves are so little known ! In subservience to this 
Roman notion, some of our modern writers have 
been clever enough to prove that there were really 
many points of resemblance between Mercury and 
Teutates — but I, I openly deny it! Once more, 
philology shall come to my assistance, to overturn 
their doctrine. It was only this morning, while 
shaving, that I made a philologic discovery of the 
very highest importance, in which the public will 
take the most lively interest, and, I doubt not, the 
French Acadamy also. 

The word Teut, as the reader no doubt knows 
perfectly well, means God ; Tat in ancient Celtic 
and in modern Breton may be accurately rendered 
as father — so an old Breton woman assures me, 
who brought me up when I was a child. Add to 
Tat the termination Es, the diminutive form of 
Esics, the Lord, connect the three monosyllables, 
and you have Teut- Tat-Es, God, Father, and Lord ! 

Where — I appeal to all the famous historians so 
graphically described by Rabelais — where do you 
find a trace of Mercury in Teutates now.? He is 
beyond all doubt the great divinity of the Celts, 
but you found it more convenient to follow the 
interested views of the Roman writers. And yet 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. lOl 

even if they were innocent of any design upon your 
credulity, might they not have been mistaken them- 
selves ? Are you not aware that Plutarch, conscien- 
tious Plutarch himself, after having witnessed the 
Feast of Tabernacles in Palestine, tells us gravely 
that the Jews worshipped Bacchus ? You were not 
aware of it, come, confess it frankly ! For I will con- 
fess to you, that I was not aware of it, myself, ten 
minutes ago ; but Dr. Rosahl has just told me so. 
The good doctor is delighted at my discovery of the 
true meaning of Teut-Tat-Es ; he thinks no etymo- 
logical question of such importance was ever more 
satisfactorily put and answered in the same breath. 
He advises me strongly to write a memoir on the 
subject, w^hich he will undertake to bring to the 
notice of learned societies, and only suggests the 
expediency of leaving out any allusion to my old 
Breton nurse ; but I am too conscientious a writer 
ever to omit quoting my authorities. 

Now, since I have mentioned Rabelais, let us 
" return to our lambs," that is, to our Teutons. 

After the Roman conquest, the same transforma- 
tion of native deities into classic gods continued in 
Germany. The sacred oak was changed into Ju- 
piter, whom it represented symbolically ; the Druid- 
ical altars became either Apollo or Diana; some- 
times they were made to represent deities of inferior 
rank, nymphs, anything in fact. But these numer- 



L 



I02 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

ous metamorphoses, made rather hastily, led to a 
curious mistake. 

The conquerors had met on the banks of the 
Weser a huge monolith, cut with an axe by simple 
and ignorant stone-carvers. It was called Irmensul. 
Like the Celtic Teutates, this Irmensul also attracted 
at certain fixed times an immense concourse of 
people. The Romans, appreciating the martial 
spirit of the natives, did not hesitate to declare 
that this was Mars, their god of war. Thereupon 
they paid it all possible honor, consecrating their 
weapons to the new deity, and offering countless 
propitiatory sacrifices. 

Now, who was this Irmensul 1 

When Varus had invaded Germany, during the 
reign of Augustus, at the head of three legions, 
Arminius, a chieftain of the Cheruski (a Brunswicker, 
we would say nowadays), had surprised him, and 
completely surrounded his army in the marshes of 
Teutoburg, on the banks of the Weser. Every man 
of this army, whether a Roman or a warrior of the 
allied tribes wearing Roman livery, had perished 
by the sword. For eight days the bloody waters 
of the Weser had carried down more than thirty 
thousand dead bodies. 

When the news of this disaster reached Augustus, 
he thought that Gaul was lost, Italy in danger, and 
Rome herself imperilled. Mad with grief, he would 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



103 



rise, for a month afterwards, night after night, and 
in his terror wander through his vast palace, cry- 
ing out : " O Varus, Varus, bring me back my le- 
gions ! " 







Well, the Irmensul was nothing more than a 
triumphal column erected in honor of Arminius 
and his Cheruski. Irmeri is the same as the name 
Herman or Armin (Arminius), and sul means col- 
umn. The Romans, however, did not know this, 
and they paid dearly for their ignorance. If they 
had known better they w^ould not have committed 
the egregious blunder of kneeling down and wor- 
shipping the man who had destroyed the three le- 
gions of Varus. It is very evident that they were 
as ignorant of German as of Celtic. 



I04 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

It ought not to surprise us, however, to see the 
soldiers of the imperial people change stones into 
gods, as Deucalion had changed them into men. 
Before the days of Homer, and for a long time 
after him, Jupiter was in Seleucia modestly repre- 
sented by a fragment of rock and Cybele by a 
black stone. In Cyprus, the Venus of Paphos was 
nothing but a triangular or quadrangular pyramid, 
nor can I imagine what importance could be at- 
tached to three or four angles in a body, w^hich 
was soon to assume the softest and most fascinat- 
ing outlines. First the poets had come and sung 
of Cybele, the kind goddess, of Jupiter the omnipo- 
tent, and of Venus, the soul of the world and the 
queen of beauty. Inspired by their voice and the 
bold conceptions of their fancy, the sculptors had 
next employed the chisel upon these stones and 
these pyramids, and there had sprung forth from 
these shapeless masses the Lord of Gods, armed 
with his lightning, the beautiful Cytherea, armed 
with the most powerful weapons of all womanly 
graces. Oh, poets and sculptors, you have upset 
everything in religion ! You are responsible for 
the loss of that austere simplicity which once char- 
acterized the faith of men! Miserable cutters of 
stone, reckless counters of syllables, you, and you 
alone, have substituted symbols for truth! Still, I 
do not condemn you; although I have stood up to 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



105 



defend the Druids of the eariiest days, I am far from 
being insensible to the charms of art and of poetry ; 
besides, what right have I, who speak of gods and 
myths, to pass sentence on those who have been 
the real creators of Mythology ? 

While the conquerors of the Teutons, in the 




pride of their cleverness, were committing blunder 
after blunder, and fell into the pits they had dug 
for others, the real gods of Rome stayed on the 
banks of the Rhine, where they had already been 
accepted by the Gauls. They were impatient 
enough to see Germany also erect them temples 
and statues, but the Rhine with uplifted waves 
barred the passage. 

Perhaps the old river remembered his grievances 



io6 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



of former days, when he had been compelled to 
appear in the triumphal processions of Germanicus, 
as a conquered river, loaded with chains, while the 
rabble and riffraff of Rome had insulted him to his 
face and covered him from head to foot with the 
mud of the Tiber. 

The remembrance of his former humiliation 
seemed to revive his wrath at this day, and he 
unfolded his whole strength to take his revenge. 
In vain had the Olympians tried repeatedly to cross 
at different points ; everywhere, from the Alps to 
the Northern Sea, they found him furious, roaring 
and rushing, full of threats in his green waters and 
besprinkling the banks with white foam. 

At last they bribed him to espouse the cause of 

the Empire : they made 




Sii 



him a king, the king of 
German rivers. A king 
more or less mattered 
very little to a people 
who made and unmade 
kings at will. 

The Rhine was evi- 
dently flattered by the 
distinction; and he laid 
aside his long cherished 
wrath. 



He had already allowed Jupiter to cross, taking 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



107 



him perhaps for Esus ; he now carefully examined 
the passports and certificates of good conduct of 
several other gods, and left the way open for Apollo 




and Minerva, Diana and some deities of fair re- 
pute ; but when he saw Bacchus, his anger was 
rekindled. What ? Were not the Germans mad 
and quarrelsome enough, when they had only 
taken too much beer? How could he consent to 
allow their passions to be aroused by potent wine ? 
He was king, and as such bound to keep this 
scourge from his people. 

The gods whom he had allowed to cross en- 
deavored to plead for the son of Semele, — but he 
remained inexorable. His severity relaxed, however, 
when the vines planted by order of the Emperor 



io8 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



Probus in parts of the Rheingau, began to adorn 
the banks of the river with their verdure — he was 




overcome, when he had once tasted the juice of 
the grape. He consented to let Bacchus pass 
from bank to bank, but only at the time of the 



vintage. 



Once admitted, Bacchus soon brought into the 
land the whole crowd of gods and goddesses, who 
made up his following and who enjoyed no great 
reputation in Rome and in Greece. The Rhine 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



109 



became angry once more, but once more caresses 
and unexpected honors had their hoped-for effect. 
He was already a king ; he now became a god. 
Henceforth Father Rhine conceived a strong 




affection for his former adversaries. When he saw 
that the German bank had adopted the customs 
and the rehgion of the conquerors as fully as the 
Celtic bank, he abandoned completely his restrict- 
ive policy and did his best to help everybody 
across. Thus Jupiter was no sooner installed in 
Germany, than he summoned his Corybantes ; 
Bacchus his Bacchantes and his Maenads, Diana 



I lO 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



her hunting nymphs, Venus her whole court of 
lascivious priestesses ; the Dryads and the Hama- 




dryads, the Naiads and the Tritons, the Fauns and 
the Silvans, all came one by one. It was a per- 
fect invasion. 




Germany, grave and solemn as she was, felt not 
a little troubled by this wholesale irruption of friv- 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. I I I 

olous and ill-mannered deities, who so little agreed 
with her austere habits. The young, it is true, were 
more easily Romanized and readily caught at this 
poetical personification of all the forces of Nature ; 
but the old, the chieftains, and above all the Druids, 
backed by a nearly unanimous people, asked each 
other what could be the meaning of this sudden 
enthusiasm for new gods, this half mad devotion 
to celestial clowns? 

No one, however, dared to raise a hand ; the 
Teutons had lost their former energy, they were 
enfeebled, unnerved and exhausted by their long 
but useless resistance. Hence, like true cowards, 
they appeared in the pagan temples, in order to 
conciliate the good-will of the conquerors, and then, 
to pacify their consciences, they hastened to some 
dark forest and there with anxious eyes and dis- 
turbed minds, they offered in fear and trembling 
their fervent worship to the sacred oak. 

The Roman gods were soon to encounter far 
more formidable adversaries elsewhere. 

Far beyond Germaiiy, as w^e find it described 
and limited by geographers, there li\^ed a host of 
nations, scattered over a vast territory, and extend- 
ing as far East as the shores of the Caspian Sea. 
The Romans had never penetrated far into these 
unknown depths, which sent forth incessantly new 
armies of soldiers whom they classed indiscrim- 



I I 2 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



inately under the vague and collective name of 
Hyperboreans. Such were the Huns, the Scythians, 
the Goths, the Slaves (Poles, Danes, Swedes, 
Russians, and Norwegians), all of them robbers and 
pirates. Some, under the name of Cimbrians, had 
joined the Teutons and with them invaded Gaul 
and even Italy, till they encountered the armies of 
Marius ; others, were about to cross the Pyrenees 
and to fall upon Spain. Among them all, the 
Scandinavians were by far the most powerful, in- 
trepid soldiers and fearless sailors, who were soon 
to darken the waters of the Rhine with their count- 
less vessels, and to make Charlemagne shed tears 
as he thought of the days to come. 

Ere long these dauntless pirates will actually enter 
the Loire, then even the Seine ; they will besiege 
Paris, and finally, thanks to the able statesmanship 
of King Charles, whom they call the Simple, they 
will become . Christians, after a fashion, and under 
the name of Normans take possession of one of 
the fairest provinces of France. Then they will 
cultivate the soil which they had heretofore robbed 
of its produce, they will drink beer instead of 
cider, they will peacefully devote themselves to 
lawsuits and cattle-raising, and will end by wearing 
white cotton night-caps — after having destroyed 
Rome and conquered England twice. 

The Scandinavians, of Celtic origin like the 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



113 



Gauls and the Germans, led at first both nomadic 
and sedentary lives and were rather barbarous than 
unpolished ; but they built cities and erected tem- 
ples, in which they worshipped Odin the One-Eyed. 




If the harvest failed, or whenever the first warmth 

of spring aroused in them their innate fondness 

of vagabondage and war, they took to their boats 

or mounted their horses, and the stupefied nations 

8 



114 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

of Europe watched the horizon and Hstened along 
the river courses, to distinguish whether this great 
Northern tempest, this storm of iron and fire, of 
blood and of tears, was rushing down upon them 
by land or by sea. 

After having crossed Germany in all directions, 
some of these bands, or rather some remnants of 
such bands, settled from inclination or from ne- 
cessity, in certain portions of the country, especially 
on the islands in the Main, the Weser, and the 
Neckar. Their priests soon made numerous con- 
verts among the neighbors to the faith of Odin, 
The Germans paid little heed to the difference be- 
tween Odin and Teut. , The two names designated, 
for them, one and the same god, the one god of 
the Celts. 

The increasing influence of these Druids of the 
third epoch led, however, naturally to some opposi- 
tion. The German priests accused them of being 
too profuse in the shedding of blood, and of having 
given their god Odin a companion in a certain 
god Thor, fond of overcoming giants, and of hav- 
ing thus destroyed the true nature of the original 
creed, which knew but one God. 

A schism was about to divide the Druidical 
church, when the arrival of the Roman deities 
brought the two opposite parties once more to- 
gether. Each yielded somewhat ; they came to an 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



117 



understanding and finally joined hands in a con- 
spiracy. The Scandinavian Druids, forsaking the 
prudent reserve which they had so far scrupulously 
observed, declared that, in order to triumph over the 
Roman Olympians, Odin had not only the assist- 
ance of his all-powerful son Thor, but could, if he 
chose, summon an escort of gods at least as im- 
posing in numbers as that of Jupiter himself. 

The German Druids veiled their faces, but the 
people and the whole party which was opposed to 
Jupiter the wicked, and to Venus the shameless, 
joyfully accepted the proposition. However cruel 
the Scandinavian ritual appeared with its increased 
number of victims who had to be offered to the 
new gods, it seemed to them better still to wor- 
ship Terror than to worship disgraceful Voluptu- 
ousness. They acknowledged Odin and his son 
Thor, and impatiently waited for the arrival of the 
others. 

The German Druids gave way, hoping perhaps 
that the two hosts of deities would erelong fall out 
among themselves and soon destroy each other. 

Father Rhine, in his equal affection for all his 
brother gods, was far too good-natured to take this 
adm.ission of new deities amiss, and promptly went 
northward, to the most hyperborean regions of snow 
and ice, in search of the newly chosen gods. 

The two parties soon met face to face. 



ii8 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



It is our solemn duty to explain fully the whole 
curious system of Scandinavian gods. We shall 
see that here, as in all that we shall have to add, 
legends, myths, and traditions abound in such num- 
bers that they can be had for the asking. 




n 




V. 



The World before and since Odin. — Birth of Ymer. — The 
Giants of the Frost. — A Log split in Two. — The First Man 
and the First Woman — The Tree Ygdrasil and its Menagerie. — 
Thor's Three Jewels. — Freyr 's Enchanted Sword. — A Souvenir 
of the National Guard of Bellville. — The Story of Kvasir and 
the Two Dwarfs. — Honey and Blood. — Invocation. 



The world was not born. 

Thick mists, unbroken by light, unbounded in 
limit, filled space. 

After a long period of darkness, silence, and per- 
fect repose, a faint light is seen, vague and uncer- 
tain, hardly deserving the name ; something is 
moving unsteadily in this night. The giant Ymer 
has been born spontaneously out of the mixture 



122 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

and assimilation of these closely compressed mists, 
which sudden and severe frost has condensated. 

At that time men of science had not yet dis- 
cussed the question of spontaneous generation ; not 
one academy made mention of the subject. 

Ymer, the sole inhabitant, the Robinson Crusoe 
of this world of darkness, became tired of his sol- 
itude. Guessing how he had been born himself, 
he gathered the mists that surrounded him, piled 
them one upon the other, shaped them into a form 
resembling his own, and once more the North 
wind came and solidified the mists. As he was a 
giant, he created giants ; he also created mountains, 
no doubt for the purpose of furnishing seats for 
these giants, for the highest among them did not 
reach up to their belts. This does not mean, that 
these mountains were less high than they are now- 
adays, but the sons of Ymer were of such size 
that without bending down a little, they could not 
have rested their elbows on the summit of Chim- 
borazo, and what is more marvelous still, Ymer 
himself not only was taller than every one of his 
sons, but taller than all of his sons together, stand- 
ing one upon the shoulders of the other! When 
he stretched himself out full length, the Alps might 
have served him as a pillow, while his feet would 
have rested on Mount Caucasus. 




THE GIANT YMER HAS BEEN BORN. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. I 25 



In order to produce such giants and such moun- 
tains, he had, of course, to consume large quantities 
of the material furnished by the chaos of mists ; 
the remainder of this gaseous substance, trembling 
in vacant space and losing its balance, fell back 
into the depths of the valleys, and formed the 
ocean. 

Some few animals began soon to stir in the 
waters, and on the shores of that vast sea ; sphinxes 
and dragons, hydras and griffins, kraken and levia- 
thans, all creatures of a low order, but in their 
proportions adapted to this colossal world, this 
world of the infinitely great, and no doubt related 
in some manner to the antediluvian families of 
mammoths and pterodactyls, of ichthyosauri and 
plesiosauri. 

A god of the first race, a creator without being 
created, Ymer naturally did not possess that skill 
and that cleverness which can only be acquired by 
long experience. Howev-er strange, therefore, it 
may appear, however inexplicable, the fact is, that 
this world, fresh with new life and freed from the 
original mists, was nevertheless covered with dark- 
ness. The only light which existed was an occa- 
sional phosphorescence of the sea or a few flashes 
of electric light, such as an aurora borealis 
sends forth ; and this faint glimmer alone illumined 
the pathway of those vast creatures, those mon- 



126 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. - 

strous reptiles, who, dazzled for an instant, plunged 
back into the lowest depths of the waters, casting 
up huge weaves and tall columns of spray. 

It must have been a peculiarly curious sight, 
certainly, to see those Giants of the Frost, as they 
were called, wandering, through the darkness across 
the boundless plains and along endless shores, 
under a sky without light, looking for each other 
from one end of the w^orld to the other. To be 
sure, they could accomplish the journey in a few 
long strides, and if they were peculiarly anxious to 
see each other, face to face, they had only to wait 
for the chance of a momentary flash or a faint twi- 
light glimmer. 

The sight was no doubt curious, but there was 
no one to behold it. 

This state of thino^s could not last lonsf. With 
a new god a new world also came into existence. 
This new god was very different from the first, it 
was Light itself, condensed at the southern ex- 
tremity of the heavens, far from this earth inhabited 
by giants. 

One fine day — an unlucky day for them, how- 
ever — these giants noticed that the sky above 
their heads was suddenly assuming a faint pinkish 
hue, then violet, and finally purple. At this they 
rejoiced. But suddenly a ball of fire appeared, and 
they were terrified. It was Odin, Odin followed 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



127 



by his celestial family, which consisted at least of 
a dozen principal deities ! 

But no ! no ! I take it back ! I rebel ! No one 
can come in contact with 
these ancient myths, without 
knocking against some prin- 
ciple of astronomy. Astron- 
omers find only seven princi- 
pal deities in Scandinavian 
mythology, when they are 
called upon to transform them 
into planets, and twelve, when 
the question is about the signs 
of the Zodiac. That seems 
to me to make mythology a ^ , ^.. _^ , 
little too easy. Does it not *.b^' '^ /J^'JiiC^"^"^^ 
look as if the first men had 
been born with a telescope 
and a compass in their pocket, 
and as if they had erected an 
observatory long before they 
thought of building huts for 
themselves } 

Fortunately I am not bound to follow their foot- 
steps. 

Certain historians of high authority have found 
out that Odin lived upon earth before he came to 
dwell in heaven. He was an illustrious conqueror. 




128 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



very expert at killing men, one of those scourges 
of God, who fall upon nations in order to break 
them to pieces. * As a matter of course, these na- 
tions deified him after his death. 

I see nothing astronomical in all this. 

Hence, I return to my own method, and pro- 
pose to describe him, as he appeared to his Druids, 
his Scalds, and his worshippers. 







^^•"s ^,^- 



*' YMER WAS THE FIRST TO SUCCUMB." (p. I3I.) 



He arrived from the southern countries, no doubt 
from the Orient, bringing with him the sun, as an 
indispensable auxiliary in the great task which 




AFTER THE GIANTS CAME THE TURN OF LAND AND SEA MONSTERS." (p. I3I.) 

9 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. I3I 

he had undertaken, to reform this dark and ice- 
covered world. " For there was a time," says the 
Edda, the bible of the Scandinavians, " when the 
sun, the moon, and the stars did not know the 
place they were to occupy. It was then the gods 
assembled and agreed as to the post which was to 
be assigned to each one of them." 

When the installation of the heavenly bodies had 
thus been agreed upon, Odin followed the example 
of all the Hercules of Egypt and of Greece, and 
began his benevolent career by freeing the earth of 
all the monsters by which it was infested. Ymer 
was the first to succumb to his blows, and after 
him, the other giants of the frost, " a race of evil- 
doers," adds the Edda. Evildoers 1 Whom did 
they aggrieve, I wonder 1 The complainants must 
have been the kraken, the griffins, and the serpents. 

The world had hardly come into existence and 
already the right of the stronger had established 
the doctrine : Vc^ victis ! 

Of all the giants of the frost a single one es- 
caped. He must have been a married man, for 
his descendants became after a while so numerous 
as to trouble the Ases, that is to say, Odin and 
his companions, the other gods. 

After the giants, came the turn of land and sea 
monsters, who were almost as formidable as they 
themselves. In the general destruction two mon- 



132 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



sters only survived : the wolf Fenris, with his fear- 
ful jaws, which enabled him to crush mountains 
and even to injure the sun, and the serpent lor- 
mungandur, the great sea serpent of world-wide 
renown. Both these monsters were one day to 
aid the giants of the frost in avenging themselves 
on their conqueror, 

Odin thought he had now nothing more to fear, 




and returned to the realms of light, there to enjoy 
his glory in peace and to revel in the delights of 
Walhalla. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



133 



One morning he came down to see how the 
world was coming on since he had reorganized it, 
and he found to his great joy, that the new crea- 
tion was assuming a more pleasing appearance. 
Grass was growing in the plains, on the slopes of 
hills, and even at the bottom of the rivers and the 
sea ; here and there trees of varied forms and 
shapes arose and gave variety to the monotonous 
horizon ; some, crowding together in groups on the 
mountain side, seemed to whisper confidentially to 
each other, as the breeze was lightly agitating their 
foliage, while others stood together in countless 
hosts, stretching away over hill and dale as far as 
eye could reach, but silent and immovable, like an 
army which remains motionless, while the chiefs are 
deliberatiuQ^. 

Behind the green curtain of forests, deer, eland, 




and aurochs were bounding in herds, now and then 
showing their beautiful horns or their dark bushy 
brows at the opening of some clearing ; goats were 



134 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



climbing about on the rocks and venturing close to 
the brink of precipices ; birds were singing in the 
groves, now swinging playfully on the supple 
branches of willows, and now darting suddenly on 
swift wings through the air ; fish were gliding 
silently under the surface of the waters, which 
reflected their silvery sheen or broke in soft ripples, 
while butterflies and insects were sporting and buz- 
zing around beatutiful flowers. 

Odin smiled ; the artist was pleased with his 
work. 

But were animals, impelled by natural instincts 
only and exclusively occupied with the desire to 
satisfv their coarse wants, were such animals 
worthy to be the sole owners of such a charming 
abode ? 

It occurred to him to invent a being which, 
without participating in the divine essence, might 
still rise high above all other creatures. This time 
the divine artist wanted a spectator, to witness his 
work, to appreciate it intelligently, and afterwards 
to profit by it for some good purpose. 

He was meditating on it during a walk on the 
sea-shore, when a piece of wood, a fragment of a 
huge branch of a tree which the wind had broken 
ofl", attracted his attention. It had evidently fallen 
into a river, which had carried it out into the high 
sea, and there it had been beaten and bruised by 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 135 

ebb and tide. He drew this poor shapeless stick 
of wood towards him, spHt it in two and made out 
of it a man and a woman. 

" Do you hear ? Do you understand 1 " Asks 
the Edda, at this point. 

Now, what is this intended to convey to us ? 
That man, exposed to the caprices of the elements, 
is nothing but a poor plaything in the hands of 
Fate 1 Very well, let us admit this explanation. 
But can the sacred book of the Scandinavians 
really presume to teach us that the origin of man- 
kind must be looked for in two sticks of wood ? 
We cannot but think that that would be a sorry 
jest, alike unworthy of the general solemnity of 
the Edda and of the mysterious majesty of ancient 
cosmogonies. 

Besides, we ought not to forget that all the 
Northern nations attributed a divine character to 
trees ; if in Germany the oak was held sacred, the 
hyperboreans held the ash tree in great respect, 
and the question is only whether our first father 
was made of the wood of an ash tree, an oak, or a 
willow. 

This leads us naturally to the consideration of 
the ash Ygdrasil and its curious population of 
gods, birds, and quadrupeds. 

The branches of this marvelous tree spread over 
the whole surface of the earth ; its top supported 



136 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



the Walhalla and rose 



x^ 



& 










<^y 



^ X 



to the uppermost heavens, 
while its roots penetrated 
to the very bottom of hell. 
Under its shadow dwell 
Odin and his Ases, when 
the government of the 
world requires his pres- 
ence, or some important 
question has to be decided. 
Two swift winged ra- 
vens are incessantly flying 
to and fro in the Universe, 
to see what is going on ; 
then they come and perch, 
one on his left and one on 
his right shoulder, and 
whisper into his ear the 
news of the day. A squir- 
rel, as swift in its move- 
ments as the two ravens, is 
perpetually running up and 
down the tree. If you 
doubt my word, hear what 
the poet says : — 



.... The fearful Odin 
Was seated beneath the ancient ash, 
The sacred tree whose immortal brow 
Rises and touches the vault of heaven. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



"^Zl 



On the top an eagle with eager eyes, 
With piercing eyes, with ever open eyes. 
Takes in the whole Universe in a single glance. 
Odin receives his swift messages. 
Incessantly a tiny squirrel 

Comes and goes ; the god's voice cheers it onward. 
All at once it dashes from the trunk to the top 
And in an instant it returns again 
From the top to the trunk. Odin, when it comes, 
*Turns an attentive ear to the squirrel 

But the poet does not tell the whole story. 
To act as a check upon the reports of the eagle, 
the ravens, and the squirrel, a vulture is perching 




upon the loftiest top of the sacred tree, who looks 
over all the horizons of the earth and the universe, 
watching for the slightest stir and giving notice of 
any important event by his cries or the flapping of 
his wings. 

Still other animals, however, inhabit the great 
ash tree Ygdrasil. Some of these play a sinister 
part in the great menagerie; they are hideous rep- 
tiles, half concealed in the slimy marshes into which 
one of the roots of the tree finds its way, and ever 
striving to pour their venom into the mire ; be- 
neath another root a dragon is crouching, who con- 
stantly gnaws at it, and four starving deer, rushing 
through its branches, forever devour its foliage. 

" Do you hear ? Do you understand ? " asks the 
Edda once more. 

For the present we do not presume to interpret 
these descriptions, and before we attempt to pene- 
trate into these dark mysteries, we will mention 
the principal chiefs among the Ases. 

The mystic marriage of Odin and Frigg resulted 
in the god Thor, who is held in equal veneration 
with his father. As his duty is to carry thunder 
and lightning, it is he who shakes the earth when- 
ever he drives through the clouds in his car drawn 
by two goats and producing a noise represented by 
the words : " Pumerle pump ! Pumerle pM7np ! 
Pliz ! Pluz I Schmi I Schmur ! Tarantara ! Tar- 
antara ! " 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



139 



giants Odin has be- 



This onomatopoetic translation of the flashing 
of lightning and the rolling of thunder, is not my 
own ; it comes directly from Dr. Martin Luther, 
the great Reformer. 

Thor is also engaged in pursuing and destroying 
the giants of the mountains, degenerate children of 
the giants of the frost, in size at least. At a later 
period we shall meet with giants of still smaller 
dimensions. Alas ! that here below everything that 
is great and strong has a tendency to decrease 
steadily ! 

For this war against the 
stowed upon his son three 
precious objects, which in 
the inventory of the Ases 
appear under the name of 
T/iors Three Jew els. The 
first is his weighty ham- 
mer, Mjdiner (some peo- 
ple call it his club), which 
goes forth by itself to 
meet giants and crushes 
their heads. One of the 
commentators upon the 

Edda professes to see in the giants of the moun- 
tains nothing but the mountains themselves, and in 
the hammer Mjoi'ner, nothing but lightning, which 
generally strikes their summit. We must evidently 




140 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



put as little faith in commentators as in astron- 
omers. 

The second of Thor's jewels was a pair of iron 
gloves. As soon as he puts them on, his spear 
no sooner reaches the point at which it is aimed, 
than it returns to his hand, precisely as the falcon 
comes back to the keeper's gauntlet, after having 
destroyed its victim. 

The third jewel of Thor is his war belt ; when 
he puts it on, his strength is twice as great as 
before ; in fact, he becomes irresistible and would 
overthrow the great Odin himself. But Odin has 
nothing to fear on his part, for in spite of his 
brutal and passionate temper, Thor is always an 
obedient and submissive son. 

Asa-Thor, that is to say, the Lord Thor, was 
most highly respected among men as the red- 
haired master of thunder and lightning, and as the 
destroyer of giants ; and he was also greatly feared 
as an active, blustering god, of a troublesome, 
turbulent temper and of somewhat eccentric man- 
ners. 

Another weapon, at least as marvelous as Asa- 
Thor's famous hammer, was the sword of the god 
Freyr. This sword was endowed with an intelli- 
gence very rarely to be met with among swords, 
and punctually obeyed the orders of its master. 
Even in his absence, it went promptly and faith- 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



141 



fully to carry out his orders, striking here and 
there at a given point, or making terrible havoc 
in the midst of a battle, without a hand at the 
hilt to direct its mortal blows. 

The good Freyr, as pacific a god as ever lived, 
w^as quite indifferent to battles and fights ; hence 
he gave his orders quietly to his faithful sword, 
while he remained comfortably seated at Odin's 
table, enjoying his strong beer and the rarest 
wines. 




I cannot help wishing that they might have 
known the art of manufacturing guns after this 
system, at the time when I was a lieutenant 
in the Belleville National Guard. It would have 
been so pleasant to see a rifle move gravely to 
and fro, quite alone, in front of the City Hall and 
the Guard House ; or to meet a patrol of four 



142 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



guns, accompanied by a corporal, but a flesh and 
blood corporal to cry out : Who is there ? In the 
meantime the happy owners of these improved 




Freyr. 



weapons might have been sitting, not at Odin's 
table, but at the nearest coffee house or restaurant, 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 1 43 

drinking beer or wine just like the Scandinavian 
gods. 

Unfortunately our manufacturers of arms have 
not yet reached that degree of skill, which our 
forefathers seem to have possessed, and thus I have 
never yet been able to enjoy such a sight. 

The happy owner of this magic weapon, Freyr, 
presided over the general administration of the 
clouds ; it was he who made fine weather or rain, 
a very troublesome office, which must have exposed 
him to countless petitions and most contradictory 
prayers. 

His sister Freya, afterwards called Frigg, was 
Odin's wife and the most honored goddess on 
earth as well as in heaven. She inspired and pro- 
tected lovers, and very different from her sister in 
Greece, this Northern Venus enjoyed an unsullied 
reputation. 

They say that once, when her husband had gone 
away on a long journey, she was so deeply grieved 
at his absence, that her tears ran day and night 
incessantly ; these tears, however, differed from 
those of mortal beings ; they were all drops of 
gold which fell into her bosom, and hence the 
Northern people call the precious metal to this day 
Freyds tears. 

One only among all the dwellers in Walhalla 
had been able to give her some comfort by singing 



144 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

his sweetest songs ; this was the god Bragi, the 
god of poetry and beautiful words. 

A tradition w^hich deserves to be mentioned here, 
accounts for the manner in w^hich he obtained this 
precious gift of eloquence and the art of poetry. 

In the early days of the world, when the creat- 
ing god had concentrated, so to say, all the active 
powers of humanity in a few individuals, and when 
a long life permitted these favored beings to carry 
on their studies till they reached a happy end, 
there lived on earth a wise man who possessed an 
art unknown, not among men only, but among the 
gods themselveSo This was the art of perpetuating 
thoughts by word-painting, of reproducing them in 
outward forms, not to the eye by colors, but to the 
ear by sounds. This sage was called Kvasir. He 
had invented the Runes, the art of poetry, and the 
no less precious art of reproducing words and fixing 
them in writing. He cut his runes on beech tab- 
lets ; if he had gone a step farther, he would have 
invented printing long before Guttenberg. 

Kvasir was then the sole owner of the art of 
Poetry. 

Two wicked dwarfs prowling about in search of 
treasures, took it into their heads, that the treasure 
of Poetry was better than any other, and forthwith 
determined to obtain possession of it. They killed 
Kvasir, into whose dwelling they had crept by 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 1 45 

stealth, and as they were masters in magic, hke all 
the dwarfs of those days, they carefully collected his 
blood, and mixing it, in different proportions, with 
honey, put it into three vessels, which they closed 
hermetically. These three vessels contained respect- 
ively Logic, Eloquence, and Poetry. To keep them 
safe till the day on which they should be used, 
they buried them in the depths of a cave which 
was inaccessible to men and unknown to the gods 
themselves. But one of those travelling agents, 
who under the form of ravens, were continually 
wandering over the world in Odin's employ, had 
been a silent witness of the transactions, the mur- 
der, the mixing, and the hiding of the three vessels. 
He returned instantly to the ash Ygdrasil and re- 
ported it all to his master. The god gave his 
orders, which the squirrel, no doubt, at once carried 
to the eagle, and the latter, who was continually 
on the watch on the top of the sacred tree, left his 
post for a few moments in charge of the vulture, 
and flew with rapid wings to the cave, from whence 
he returned laden with the three precious vessels. 
It is to be supposed that he carried one in his 
beak, and the two others, one in each of his claws. 

He placed the mysterious vessels at Odin's feet 
and at once returned to relieve the vulture and to 
resume his watch. 

Odin opened first the vessel which contained 

lO 



146 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

Poetry and tasted the contents. From that moment 
he never spoke otherwise than in verse. He also 
tasted Logic, and henceforth he spoke and reasoned 
with such extreme accuracy, that he found no one 
to agree with him any longer ; he tasted Eloquence, 
and as soon as he opened his lips, he might have 
been mistaken for one of our own most eminent 
lawyers. Gold chains seemed to come out from 
his lips, as was the case with Ogmius, with which 
he bound the ears and hearts of all his hearers. 

Whilst he was thus enjoying himself, Bragi his 
son, and Saga his daughter, who were sitting by 
him, felt their mouths water and looked imploringly 
at him. 

Setting aside the terror with which the Druids 
have surrounded Odin, he seems to have been 
occasionally good-natured, and certainly always acted 
like a kind father. He offered the vessel with 
Poetry first to Saga, courteously giving her the 
preference on account of her sex. She barely 
touched it with her lips. When Bragi's turn came, 
he eagerly swallowed as much as he could, and 
without taking time to gather breath, he began a 
grand triumphal chant in honor of the feasts, the 
loves, the wars, and the greatness of the gods, the 
stars of the firmament, paradise, hell, and the ash 
Ygdrasil. In well chosen cadences he imitated the 
clanking of cups, the cooing of doves and of lovers, 



\ 




BRAGI AND THE BEAUTIFUL FREYA. 



the tumult of battles, the harmonies of the celestial 
spheres, and all this with such energy, such fire and 
such grace by turns, that Odin was enchanted, and 
having become a master himself about five minutes 
ago, on the spot changed his name of the Long- 
bearded God, which he had borne so far, to that of 
the God of Poetry. Moreover, he entrusted to his 
keeping the threefold treasure which had been 
taken from Kvasir's murderers. 

This was that god Bragi who alone succeeded 
in comforting the beautiful and inconsolable Freya 
in her great grief. 

Through him the Druids were instructed in the 
art of verse ; to him is due that terrible Scandi- 
navian poetry, wiiich contains, according to Ozanam, 
quite as much blood as honey. 

As to Saga, she became the goddess of Tradi- 
tion. " The heart of history is in tradition," says a 
master, a sage, and a poet. 

Good goddess Saga, your lips, I know, never 
touched the vessel containing Eloquence, nor that 
which held Logic, far from it ! And still I count 
upon you to support me in carrying out my work, 
which I have perhaps imprudently begun ; for I 
begin to be overwhelmed with materials, the subject 
is a very grave one, and, in spite of the good ad- 
vice of my learned doctor and the assistance of 
my two charming lady-companions, time and strength 



I50 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



threaten not to suffice. Therefore I beseech you, 
as well as my readers, to grant me a short repose, 
before I proceed any farther on my journey through 
Odin's fantastic world. 





VI. 



Short Biographies. — A Clairvoyant aino7ig the Gods. — A Bright 
God. — Tyr and the Wolf Fenris. — The Hospital at the Walhalla. 
— Why was Odin one-eyed? — The Three Norns. — Mivier 
the Sage. — A Goddess the Mother of Four Oxen. — The Love 
Affairs of Heimdall, the God with the Goldeji Teeth. 



We have no intention of giving here a complete 
list of the numerous deities of the North. We will 



154 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

only mention Hermode, Odin's messenger and man 
of business ; Forseti, the peacemaker ; Widar, the 
god of silence, a dumb person who only walks on 
air, as if he were afraid to hear the noise of his 
own footsteps ; Vali, the skilfull archer ; Uller, the 
excellent skater, who taught the giant Tialfif his 
art, in spite of what the poet Klopstock says to 
the contrary ; Hoder, a mysterious deity, whose 
name must never be uttered by any one in heaven 
or on earth. Why not ? Odin alone knows the 
reason. 

Let us also mention Heimdall, with the golden 
teeth. A son of Odin, he had nine mothers — 
eieht more than had ever been known before him. 
He is the guardian of Walhalla, and his duty is to 
watch lest the giants should one fine day attempt 
to storm the heavenly abode by means of the 
Bifrost bridge, that is, the rainbow. But the gods 
can sleep in peace ; neither the eagle nor the 
ravens on the ash Ygdrasil can surpass Heimdall in 
vigilance. The senses of sight and hearing are in 
him developed to a perfectly marvelous degree ; 
he can hear the grass grow in the meadows and 
the wool grow on the back of the sheep. From 
one end of the world he sees a fly pass through 
the air at the other end, and, more than that, he 
sees distinctly the different joints in its feet and 
the black or brown spots with which its wings are 



dotted. In the midst of the darkest night and at 
the bottom of the sea where it is deepest, he sees 
an atom moving and watches the marriage of 
monads. There is nothing in the whole universe 
hid from him. 

But why should this god Heimdall have golden 
teeth, after a fashion of some of the natives of 
Sunda ? Odin alone knows the reason. 

Among all these gods Balder is the most richly 
endowed, the best, the handsomest and the most 
virtuous — Balder, the Bright God, by eminence. 
Although the son of Odin and Frigg, he might be 
taken for a son of Freya, on account of his strong 
resemblance to Love itself, not to the turbulent, 
passionate, and capricious Love of the Greeks, but 
to Love in the widest and noblest sense of the 
word, — Love, in fine, in its Christian meaning. 
Balder represents that universal goodness, loyalty, 
affection, and harmony, which binds all beings to 
each other ; Bragi, the poet, is his brother ; Forseti, 
the peacemaker, is his son. But we shall but too 
soon have to return to him on a most melancholy 
occasion. 

In spite of our desire to close this already too 
numerous list, we cannot well pass over in silence 
that poor Tyr, the very type of intrepidity and 
loyalty, who fell a victim to his own prowess and 
to his imprudent confidence in the other gods. 



156 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



The latter, having one day met the wolf Fenris, 
invited him to enjoy a good meal with them. The 
wolf, always voraciously hungry, listened to the pro- 
posal. Then the Ases, pretending to fear that he 
might play them an ugly trick on the way home, 
insisted upon leading him by a chain around his 
neck, pledging their word as gods, however, that 
they would set him free upon going to table. 




Fenris, suspicious as all wolves, in fact, as all 
wicked creatures are, consented to be bound, but 
made it a condition that as a proof of the good 
faith of the Ases, one of them should put his hand 
into his mouth. Tyr agreed to do so without hes- 
itation, not expecting that personages of such lofty 
position could possibly be faithless. The gods. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 1 57 

however, did behave faithlessly and kept Fenris a 
prisoner, whereupon the wolf claimed the fulfillment 
of the pledge, and when Tyr put his hand into his 
mouth, coolly bit it off up to the wrist. Hence 
that particular joint has ever since been called the 
wolf's joint, in memory of this inartistic amputa- 
tion. 

Thus the gods had a one-handed brother among 
them, after having long been presided over by a 
one-eyed god. But Tyr and Odin were by no 
means the only gods who labored under such an 
infirmity. Heimdall with the golden teeth must 
evidently have had a set of false teeth ; Widar, the 
god of silence, was dumb, and Hoder, that myste- 
rious being whose name must not be pronounced by 
any one, was blind. There was also a certain god, 
called Herblinde, who was not only blind but — 
actually dead ! We poor mortals generally imagine 
that death includes blindness as a matter of course, 
but it was not so, apparently, among these mystic 
personages. Herblinde, for instance, was quite blind, 
although he was quite dead also, and yet he at- 
tended the meetings of the gods and even had a 
vote in their counsels. Do you understand that } 
I do not, I am sure. 

And this grand council, this hospital of the Wal- 
halla, which counted among its members a one- 
handed and a dumb ^od, a toothless and two blind 



158 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

gods, was, as I said, presided over by one-eyed 
Odin ! This fact recalls forcibly the old proverb : 
Among the blind the one-eyed is king. 

But why had Odin but one eye ? 

Fortunately I am able, for once, to give an an- 
swer to this question. 

Astronomers have naturally found a reply to this 
Why.^ in their imperturbable system of sidereal 
interpretations. Odin was the sun-god ; the sun 
was the eye of Nature, Nature had but one eye — 
consequently Odin was bound to be born one-eyed! 
. . . . Now you see why your daughter is deaf- 
mute. , 

The Edda, however, gives a different account of 
the matter, and I feel bound to adopt this explan- 
ation, as it is founded upon a knowledge of the 
most secret mysteries. 

Odin had two eyes when he was born, and the 
sun was nothing more than his travelling compan- 
ion, when he came from the far East, to revive 
and warm the earth which had so long been in 
the hands of the giants of the frost. 

Several centuries after he had created man, he 
was one day walking up and down in the lower 
parts of his great ash tree Ygdrasil, and thinking 
of the greatly increased responsibility which rested 
upon him since he had added the government of 
the earth to that of heaven, and since the earth 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



159 



had begun to be peopled with a multitude of races. 
He was asking himself whether the knowledge of 
all things had been revealed to him fully enough 
to enable him satisfactorily to fill his two great 
offices. He had quaffed ample draughts by turns 
from the three vessels of Kvasir, but Eloquence, 
Poetry, and even Logic do not supply Wisdom. 

As he passed by a large tank fed by a purling 
brook, he saw three beautiful swans swimming 




merrily about in it, who after having examined him 
with half thoughtful, half mocking attention, twisted 
their long flexible necks in strange contortions and 
then seemed to converse with each other by signi- 
ficative glances. 

He spoke to them and asked them if they pos- 
sessed the secret of Wisdom. 

The swans suddenly plunged beneath the surface, 



i6o 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



and in their place there appeared three beautiful 
women, representing three different stages of life. 

They were the Norns. 

The first, called Urda, knew the Past ; the sec- 
ond, called Verandi, saw the Present unfold itself 
before her eyes, hour by hour and minute by min- 
ute, and when to-day had become yesterday, her 
older sister gathered up the departed day and en- 




tered it on her record. Finally Skulda, the third, 
the Norn of the Future, enjoyed the privilege of 
beholding with her far-seeing eyes the germs of all 
future events and of being able to foretell with 
unerring accuracy the date and the consequences 
of their occurrence. 

Let us pause here a moment to notice a remark 
communicated to me by the amiable and learned 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. l6l 

Dr. Rosalh, which may not be without interest to 
some of my readers. 

It will be remembered that the Romans had at 
first pretended to recognize in these three Norns 
their own three Fates, probably because they w^ere 
three and because they were women ; at least I can 
see no other reason. Urda, Verandi, and Skulda 
were as beautiful and as graceful as the three 
Parc^ — Alecto, Lachesis, and Atropos — were ugly. 
Besides, their duties w^ere entirely different. The 
Norns knew the fate of men, but they were utterly 
unable to lengthen human life. Such at least is 
the opinion of the great Holinshed in his Chron- 
icles. Warburton sees in them nothing more than 
Valkyrias, but, what is far more astonishing, Shake- 
speare chose these three beautiful prophetic virgins, 
to furnish the three hideous, unclean, and toothless 
witches, the weird sisters, who called out to Mac- 
beth, " All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king here- 
after ! " 

Shakespeare had evidently taken the curse de- 
nounced by the Church against the ancient deities 
in its literal meaning. 

Odin had a better opinion of the three sisters ; 
he conversed for some time with them, and after- 
wards came frequently back to visit them. It was 
thus and by their aid that he gained experience. 

But even Experience, added to the precious gifts 
II 



l62 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



of Eloquence, Poetry, and Logic, is not able to 
supply Wisdom. 

He took counsel with the Norns, and in his 



c£:^;^ii>^^I^'52i^r^ ''^^i^f)^--;^^^W§ 



's^(rr^^' ^^'^-^:''. '" 













anxiety to possess this most precious of all gifts, 
he expressed his willingness to exchange for it, if 
needs be, his treasures of poetry and of eloquence, 
his magic armor which made him safe against all 
danger, his horse Sleipner, which had eight legs 
and crossed the air with the rapidity of lightning, 
his eagle and his vulture, his squirrel and his two 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 1 63 

ravens. Then he went to Mimer, the wisest man 
in existence, the successor of old Kvasir, and at- 
tended his lectures like the most humble and zeal- 
ous of students. When he had mastered the subject, 
and felt that he had acquired Wisdom at last, he 
paid the philosopher liberally by giving him one of 
his own eyes, in order thus to show him the high 
value he set upon the service which had been ren- 
dered to him by Mimer. 

This was the reason why Odin was one-eyed. 
The truth is far too honorable to the god to be 
hid under idle astronomical pretexts. 

Now, what use did he make of his wisdom 1 

He began by regulating the government of heaven. 
The Ases had until now lived very much as they 
chose ; he now gave to each of them a duty to 
perform : to Niord the management of rivers and 
of fishing ; to Egir, the seas and navigation ; and 
so to others, requiring regularity and accuracy of 
all, but sternly prohibiting the display of extreme 
zeal, just as Talleyrand used to do with his diplo- 
matic apprentices. 

Then he turned to the earth. 

Here men had multiplied incessantly, and with 
their numbers their wants had increased, and alas ! 
with these, their vices also ! In order to satisfy 
the wants and to repress the vices, they had estab- 
lished among them that great, primitive law which 



164 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



constitutes the whole code of laws among barba- 
rians — the right of the stronger. 




"TO EGIR, THE SEAS AND NAVIGATION. 

The most fertile pastures, the rocks and grottoes 
best fitted for dwellings and safe retreats, the for- 
ests that were richest in game and the springs 
that were most frequented by the flocks, all were 
taken by force and possession maintained by the 
strength of the sword. 

Wise Odin felt that violence gave no right and 
that theft could not give a title to possession. He 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 1 65 

determined to establish the right of property, and 
to give it, for greater efficiency, a reHgious character 
which would make it sacred in the eyes of nations. 

One of his daughters, Gefione, was sent by him 
to one of the most powerful chiefs of Scandinavia. 
She presented herself before his tent, with presents 
in her hands. In return she asked only for a span 
of land. The chief gave her a vast but uncultivated 
territory. 

Next she went, with secret purposes in her mind 
and always inspired by Odin, to a distant country, 
into the mountains, where giants dwelt. Here she 
married one of these giants, the most powerful of 
them all, to whom she bore four sons. The strong 
are apt to be gentle. Gefione took her four sons, 
changed them into oxen, and by words of gentle 
persuasion induced her husband to harness them 




himself to a plough. A river marked the bound- 
ary of the field, on the other side stood an altar. 
Thus was the first piece of property inaugurated. 



1 66 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

by purchase, by labor, and under the protection of 
the gods. The first owner, the gigantic husband, 
represented Force submitting to Right, and the 
four oxen represented the hard-working family, 
improving the soil and enriching it with the sweat 
of their brow. 

Soon people began to imitate Gefione's example, 
and in all directions land was measured and laid 
out ; stones were put up to mark the boundary 
lines of each legal possession, and these stones 
were held sacred. 

In order to encourage men in these e£forts, the 
Ases made it a point every morning to show their 
bright, shining heads above the horizon and thus 
to cheer them by their presence and the interest 
they took in their labors. 

The god Thor even came once to pay a visit to 
his sister Gefione, and then cast a few flashes of 
lightning upon each one of the newly acquired 
pieces of land, to render them sacred. Hence the 
old, deeply rooted notion that lightning hallows all 
it touches. Afterwards, and as late as the fifteenth 
century, it was deemed sufficient at Bonn, at Co- 
logne, and at Mayence, to cast Thor's hammer upon 
the piece of land that had become a fief, in order 
to establish an absolute right of proprietorship. 

But the right of property alone did not suffice 
to render human society stable and flourishing, — 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 1 67 

the nations of the earth longed for a hierarchy of 
rank and race ; at least the divine pupil of the wise 
Mimer decided it should be so. The means he 
employed to found such a hierarchy and the sys- 
tem itself appear curious and odd enough to us, 
who are no gods, but, unsuitable as they look now, 
they were successful at the time. 

By his order Heimdall, the god with the false 
teeth, abandoned his post as guardian of the W^al- 
halla for nine days, and after a long journey across 
the country, knocked at the door of a wretched 
tumbledown hut, where the Great-grandmother lived. 
Here he remained three days and three nights. 

The Great-grandmother brought a male child into 
the world, black-skinned, broad-shouldered, with hard 
horny hands, and powerful arms. They called it 
Thrall, the serf. 

Thrall's natural inclination led him to prefer the 
hard work in mines and in the wilderness ; he was 
fond of the society of domestic animals and even 
slept with them in their stables. His sons became 
cattle-raisers, miners, or charcoal-burners. 

Heimdall had continued his journey. He next 
stopped at the Grandmother s house, a small, simple 
cottage, but lacking in nothing that was useful. 
Here he remained three days and three nights. 

The Grandmother gave birth to a son, who was 
called Karl^ the free man. 



1 68 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

Karl was fond of driving oxen under the yoke, 
of working in wood and in iron, of building boats 
and houses, and of trading. From him are de- 
scended our workmen and artisans, our merchants 
and builders. 

Turning his face towards the south, Heimdall 
next went to a beautiful mansion, surrounded by 
magnificent gardens and reflected in the blue 
waters of a large lake. As the god had only to 
show his golden teeth in order to be welcomed by 
every woman he saw, the mistress of this mansion, 
the Mother, also received him with great delight 
and tried to do him honor. Dressed in her most 
costly robes she put an embroidered cloth upon a 
table of polished wood and offered him in silver 
dishes all the varieties of fish and game, in which 
the lake and the park near the house abounded. 
The Mother did everything to keep the god as 
long as possible at her house, but, as at the Grand- 
mother's and at the Great-grandmother's, so he re- 
mained here only three days and three nights. 

A son appeared to console the Mother for the 
departure of her illustrious guest ; this child had 
at its birth already rosy cheeks, long hair, and a 
haughty look. When he was still a child, he was 
fond of brandishing his spear and of bending his 
bow ; at fifteen he swam across the blue waters of 
the lake, or plunged on an unbroken horse into 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 1 69 

the depths of the forest, riding as fast as the wind. 
They called him Jarl, the noble. 

Some years later Heimdall paid another visit to 
this country ; delighted with the prowess of Jarl, he 
acknowledged him as his son and taught him the 
language of birds, which the gods alone understand 
and fluently speak. He taught him also the 
science of Runes, of runes of victory which are 
engraven on the blades of swords ; runes of love 
to be traced upon drinking horns or the thumb- 
nail ; runes of the sea, with which the prow and the 
rudder of ships are decorated — in all cases pre- 
cautionary measures by which alone ill fortune can 
be kept at bay. 

Besides these gifts of knowledge, he bestowed 
upon him an inalienable, hereditary domain. This 
was the first entailed estate ever known in Europe. 

Jarl, says the Edda, was a man of eight-horse 
power. Could we express it better in the noble 
railway Anglo-Saxon of our day, or does our mod- 
ern English really go back to the old Scandinavian, 
as this coincidence would seem to prove? 

Jarl's descendants are the great chieftains, the 
barons, princes, kings, and Druids, who have all in- 
herited great power from their divine ancestor with 
the golden teeth. They alone are his legitimate 
and acknowledged children ; the descendants of the 
grandmother and great-grandmother are illegitimate. 



170 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

Still, whether acknowledged by the law or not, they 
all form a close chain, a single family, they all 
spring from the same god ! Thus the humblest 
among them saw his rights secured for the future. 

I must confess that, the more carefully I examine 
these barbarians, whether they were gods or men, 
the more I am surprised to discover beneath the 
outward cloak of their fables so many correct ideas 
of order and of justice. These fables had, of course, 
their day and then passed away. Up to the present 
time, it is true, there is not much of the day gone ; 
perhaps also Odin may be blamed for having in- 
vented, before the world was a few hundred years 
old, both the Middle Ages and the Feudal System. 
But it would be wrong to blame him, for it must be 
acknowledged, that in spite of the violence of their 
manners and the bloody nature of their worship, 
a certain civilization had at last appeared among 
the Scandinavians. It may be called brutal, I grant ; 
it may be called aggressive even, but it was after 
all an improvement, and it has held its own in the 
North, under snow and ice, like the vigorous plants 
of our Alps. How comes it that the Germans and 
the Franks, more favored by climate and by contact 
with highly civilized nations, remained so long in- 
ferior to the Scandinavians in this respect ? Perhaps 
they were more liable to be invaded than the Sons 
of the North ; the Scandinavians invaded the con- 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



171 



tinent in all directions, but no one ever dreamt of 
invading their country. 

After having thus established the right of prop- 
erty and a certain social hierarchy, Odin had next 
instituted marriage with the symbolic ring, and 
finally courts of justice. 

But, since he had given to man an immortal 
soul, and since he held out to him reward or pun- 
ishment in another world according to his deserts, 
Odin had been compelled to establish the first 
high tribunals in that other world. 

We must, therefore, find our way to Walhalla 
and even to Hell, if the reader is disposed to fol- 
low us to that place. 





VII. 

Heaven and Hell. — The Valkyrias. — Amusements in Walhalla. 

— Pork mid Wild Boar. — A Frozen Hell. — Balder's Death. 

— P^^igg '-f Devotion. — The Irofi Tree Forest. — The Twilight of 
the Gods. — Iduiias' Apples. — The Fall of Heaven and the 
End of the World. — Reflectio7is on that Event. — The Little 
Fellow still alive. 



When the warriors were preparing for battle, a 
number of blue-eyed young maidens, mounted on 



176 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



bright, shining horses, passed through their ranks, 
animating them with word and gesture, and whis- 
pering into their ears wadike songs to be soon 
changed into triumphal chants for those who fell 
on the battlefield, mortally wounded. 

These maidens were the Valkyrias, those Valky- 




rias whom ever since the poets and painters of the 
Ossianic school have reproduced in a thousand 
forms. Nor must it be forgotten that this remark- 
able school, which the Scotchman Macpherson re- 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. I 77 

vived towards the end of the eighteenth century, 
counted among its most ardent admirers two en- 
thusiastic Frenchmen, whose names were Napoleon 
and Lamartine. 

These Valkyrias, beautiful nymphs of carnage as 
they were, delighted in the clash of arms, the shed- 
ding of blood, and the dying groans of the wounded, 
even in the odors exhaled by the dying, — a taste 
which seems little suited to fair, blue-eyed maidens. 
These unnatural tastes were, however, justified to 
a certain extent, by the peculiar mission which 
they had to fulfill, a mission of kindness and tender 
compassion. They walked to and fro on the battle- 
field, not to carry off the dead, but to gather the 
souls of those who had fallen. Of the Seola (such 
w^as the sweet name of the Soul among the nations 
of Germanic or Scandinavian race), they rapidly 
asked these questions : — 

" Seola, did you belong to a free man or to a 
slave ? 

" Seola, did your master honor the gods and the 
priests of those gods } 

" Did he keep his pledged word } 

" Did he die like a brave man, with his face to 
the enemy and not a fear in his heart? 

" Seola, did he ever fight against the men of his 
own blood and his own race?" 

The human soul, as soon as it escapes from the 

12 



17^ MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



wretched bondage of this earth, no longer possesses 
the sad power of being able to tell a falsehood ; 
Seola, therefore, answered these questions truth- 
fully, even though it were to its own condemnation. 
In the latter case the Valkyrias left it to the black 
Alfs, a kind of demons who belonged to hell ; but 
if the Seola had belonged to a brave and loyal 
warrior, the Valkyria instantly unfolded her white 
wines and took it to Walhalla, the home of the 
gods and the paradise of heroes. 

This paradise, exclusively intended for free men, 
was still open to slaves also, if they had fallen by 
the side of their masters, or if they had thrown 
themselves voluntarily into the fire of the funeral 
pile for the purpose of continuing their service in 
the future life. 

Let us see whether the delights of Walhalla 
were sufficiently attractive to warrant such self- 
immolation. 

The one great enjoyment of all who dwell in 
Walhalla was combat and strife. That is a matter 
of taste, but did they not carry combat and 
strife a little too far? They fought there for 
hours and hours, with eagerness, with fury, even 
piercing each other and cutting each other to 
pieces to their hearts' delight. It is true, that as 
soon as the dinner hour came the blood ceased 
to flow, the wounds closed their gaping lips, the 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. I 79 

limbs that had been lopped off by the swords 
returned to their place, the broken heads and 
exposed entrails were restored without the sur- 
geon's aid, not leaving a scar behind, and the 
heroes went arm in arm to dinner, looking for- 
ward with joy to a repetition of the same' merry 
sport as soon as the meal should be finished. 

The fare at this table of gods and heroes does 
not seem to have been peculiarly wholesome; at 
all events it was not very varied. 

The pork-butchers' business was at that time 
uncommonly flourishing both in heaven and on 
earth. Tacitus tells us that among the races of the 
North, as far as the borders of the Baltic Sea, 
chieftains and matrons alike loved to wear sus- 
pended around their neck a small image of a pig 
as an emblem of abundance and fecundity. Rich 
and poor, all looked upon pork as the main sup- 
ply of their pantry. The pig, however, was not 
deemed worthy to appear on Odin's table, and its 
place was taken by the boar: the gods lived upon 
wild boar, men upon domestic pig, that was the 
whole difference. 

I am often tempted to eat pork, and I am 
occasionally enabled to taste wild boar; but I must 
solemnly confess, swearing if needs be by my 
stomach, that in my opinion, the gods and the 
heroes had by no means the best of it. It may 



i8o 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



be, however, that wild boars here below are not 
quite equal to heavenly boars. 

However that may be, there appeared every 




morning upon the edge of one of the marvelous 
forests to be found in Walhalla, an enormous 
colossal boar, a very mammoth of a boar. The 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



l8l 



heroes proceeded to hunt it, accompanied at times 
by Thor, by Vali, the skillful archer, or by Tyr, 
the one-handed god, who nevertheless wielded his 
sword with power and accuracy. Then the monster 
was killed, cut up and roasted, and all dined to- 
gether. 

The next day there appeared on the edge of the 
marvelous forest another wild boar, quite as fat 
and quite as enormous, in fact in every respect as 
attractive as the boar of the day before — some 
think it was always the same animal, come to life 







again. Then a new hunt and a new dinner upon 
roasted wild boar. Surely we poor people might 
become disgusted for the rest of our lives, one 
would imagine, — and those were immortal gods ! 
What taste! 

But there is worse behind yet. The Scandi- 



l82 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



navian paradise was by no means the only one 
where the pork-butcher was thus glorified. In a 
neighboring paradise, which the Finns had estab- 
lished, we are told by a learned writer, the rivers 
were flowing with beer and hydromel, the moun- 
tains co7isisted of lard a7id the hills of half salted 
pork. 

To help them in digesting their solid food, the 
Scandinavian gods drank, like those of Finland, 
great quantities of beer and hydromel ; but they 
had in addition, an abundance of wine which they 
quaffed from gold cups. Wine ! In this one word 
thoughtful historians have discovered a whole rev- 
elation. 

Now would it ever have occurred to Odin, in 
his hyperborean lands, where the vine did not 
exist and could not possibly live, to bring the fruit 
of the vine to his paradise ? Did he know grapes } 
And when had he learnt to know them } But as I 
do not wish to interrupt my story, I reserve the dis- 
cussion of this great and important question, with 
several others of the same kind, for another chap- 
ter, in which I hope to be able to develop my 
views fully and scientifically. 

Besides wine, beer, and hydromel, the blessed 
people in Walhalla had an additional precious 
beverage of their own, which it may safely be pre- 
sumed, no mortal on earth has ever tasted. This 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 1 83 

ambrosia of a novel nature was obtained by the 
gods and heroes themselves, on certain favorable 
days, from the white substance of the moon. Yes, 
from the moon ! Did they quaff it in full draughts 
or did they inhale it through calumets? We do 
not know, but the nations of the earth saw in these 
periodical bleedings of the moon the reason for 
her divers phases and her gradual diminution. 
When she became reduced to a mere crescent, 
fright was seen on all faces and oppressed all 
hearts. Were the great people up there forgetting 
themselves in their celestial orgies, and would they 
drink up the moon to the last drop ? 

It must be borne in mind that they, like the 
Germans, saw in the moon nothing but a trans- 
parent leathern bottle, filled with sweetened milk, 
and phosphorescent. 

Let us return now. To hunt the boar, to break- 
fast on wild boar, to dine on the same dish, day 
after day, to drink beer and wine, and from time to 
time that mulled ^^^ which the moon furnished, to 
fight morning and evening, to die and come to life 
again, merely for the purpose of fighting again — 
these were the amusements of that delightful 
place. Upon my word, it took Scandinavians to 
be content with such pleasures. 

If Odin's paradise appears to us but little attrac- 
tive, his hell, on the other hand, seems to have been 



far from terrible, especially if we compare it with 
the hell of some of our great poets, such as Dante 
and Milton. 

The hell of the Scandinavians occupied the 
lowest depths of the world and consisted of two 
parts, Nastrond and Niflheim. The latter is a 
kind of dismal vestibule shrouded in darkness, in 
which are seen wandering about the mournful 
seolas of those who have been neither good nor 
bad, neither heroes nor scoundrels, and of all who 
have not fallen by the sword. To die on one's bed 
or in an armchair, was a WTong in Odin's eyes, a 
grievous wrong, though not exactly a crime, since 
he punished it only with a temporary detention in 
those damp, low places, where darkness, silence, 
and weariness seemed to combine for their punish- 
ment. The dwellers in Niflheim had scarcely any 
amusement except their reciprocal yawns, and from 
time to time a flash of dim light which reached 
there when the little black Alfs came in or went 
out, busily engaged in conveying a load of souls. 

The great criminals were thrown into Nastrond, 
the real hell. What is very remarkable is, that 
here there were no braziers and burning gridirons 
to be seen, no furnaces and masses of flames as in 
all the other hells. This was a hell of ice ; it froze 
here hard enough to split iron, and the damned 
shivered with cold. Dante mentions something of 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



185 



the kind in his great work, but between the Flor- 
entine and the Scandinavian there can be no doubt 
who borrowed from the other. 

It was quite natural after all that in these win- 
tery regions of Scandinavia, where cold is the great- 
est evil to be dreaded, intense, continued, eternal 
cold should have become the terror and the pun- 
ishment of the criminal. The idea of a hell of fire, 




so far from keeping them from the fatal slope, 
might very well have tempted some chilly scoun- 
drel to commit a great crime. 

The poor wretches who were shivering in Nas- 



1 86 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

trond with stiffened hands and eyes full of frozen 
tears, felt their tortures increased whenever Hela, the 
pale goddess, the queen of that place, Death itself, 
cast upon them a glance from her lack-lustre eyes. 

Yes, it was Hela who reigned over this fright- 
ful iceberg; her palace is called Misery, her gate 
the Precipice, her reception room Grief, her bed 
Disease, her table Famine, and her throne Male- 
diction ! 

The body of this terrible queen is party-colored, 
half white and half blue, and her breath is perfumed 
with that horrible cadaverous odor in which the 
Valkyrias delight. 

But after all, the names seem to be worse than 
the sufferings themselves ; for excessive cold par- 
alyzes pain itself, and there is nothing here to 
compare with those classic places where lava-baths, 
rolling rocks, flaming wheels, horses of red-hot 
iron, boiling pitch, fiery arrows and the snake whips 
of the Eumenides made up an infernal stock of 
tortures which might well tempt the imagination 
of the greatest of poets. 

In Nastrond there were no demons and no 
Eumenides ; to be sure, there was a Bigvor and a 
Sisvor, furies if you will have it so, watching at 
the gates of hell, with the help of Gaun, the for- 
midable dog, but all three are forbidden to enter 
within. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 1 87 

The place of missing monsters is occupied by 
some of those whom Odin spared on the occasion 
of his first campaign against the giant sons of 
Ymer, and by the wolf Fenris, w^hom the Ases 
had treacherously captured. There are also two 
other wolves, convicted of having made an attempt 
upon the life of the Sun, and all of these monsters 
are firmly chained and appear rather as sufferers 
than as tormentors. 

One of these days, their iron chains will be 
loosened ; one of these days heaven will turn cold 
and hell will melt, and — then, woe to the gods ! 

Listen ! The moment is drawing near wiien all 
these mysteries are to be solved. The hour is 
coming when you shall hear, when you shall 
understand / But before uttering these last words, 
final and at the same time fatal words, we must 
mention an event which at that moment occurred 
in the open assembly of the gods, filling heaven 
and earth with amazement, with pity and horror. 

It must be acknowledged that so far the heavenly 
personages have appeared to be rather kindhearted 
and mild. Odin, in spite of his Druids and their 
demands for bloody sacrifices, seems to have been 
full of good intentions. The god Thor, with all 
his somewhat brutal ways, rendered great services 
to mankind ; and the same hammer, which pro- 
tected them against the giants, afterwards served, 



1 88 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

without the aid of geometry, to mark the boundary 
Hnes of their respective properties. The golden- 
teethed god, Heimdall, gave most undoubted evi- 
dence of his devotion to the human race and of 
his self-denial in his visits to the Grandmother and 
the Great-grandmother, and so did the other gods. 
But we had good reasons for not going through 
the whole list of the Ases. For there is one 
whom we keep in reserve so that he may appear 
at the right hour, and that is Loki, the god of evil 
and the genius of destruction. 

Surpassing Odin himself in his magic skill, fair 
of form and features, a smile on his lips — thin 
lips, however, the Edda adds — and apparently pos- 
sessed of the most jovial temper so as to make him 
a most agreeable person, Loki is in reality a com- 
pound of the most hideous vices. He is the rep- 
resentative of hatred and cruelty, of envy, hypoc- 
risy, and perversity. In fact, he is our Satan, before 
the fall. If he had been king of hell, Miflheim and 
Nastrond would both have been filled with more 
tortures and more horrors than all the other hells 
which are known to men. 

And yet he was the god upon whom the dwellers 
in Walhalla counted for their entertainment, and 
whom they had surnamed the Clown! 

One day an ancient prophetess returns to life, 
rises in her grave, and utters a terrible cry : " Balder, 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



189 



fair Balder, is going to die ! " With these words she 
falls back again upon her mournful couch and dies 
again — forever. 




In the meantime this cry has been heard even at 
the top of the ash Ygdrasil. The Ases are troubled 
and amazed ; they meet, they look at each other, 
thoroughly frightened, for on the life of Balder de- 
pends the existence of all the other gods. More- 



over, Balder the Bright is the glory of heaven and 
the love of the earth. Can Balder die, the most 
charming and the purest as well as the most beau- 
tiful of all the sons of Odin ? He, who was so 
beautiful that Hela herself could not help smiling 
when she looked at him — he, so pure that no false- 
hood could be uttered in his presence and that a 
vessel containing an adulterated liquid would break 
instantly at his approach — he, so charming that 
all the gods love him as their favorite child, and 
that men have surnamed him Hope ? No, no ! 
Balder shall not die, said the Ases. 

His distressed mother Frigg, Odin's wife, shov\^s 
her apprehensions by her intense anguish, and her 
sobs scarcely allow her to speak. She tells those 
who try to laugh at the sudden alarm of all who 
have heard the warning of the prophetess, that for 
several nights already she has been repeatedly, 
persistently warned in her dreams of the death of 
her well-beloved son. She would not believe it, 
she adds, but now she does believe. 

The divine sybil Vola, whose predictions have 
never proved untrue, and Skulda, the Norn of the 
Future, are summoned to appear. They consult 
with each other and this is their decision : — 

" Balder is in danger ; Balder will die unless all 
earthly substances that can inflict death, are ren- 
dered powerless." 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



191 



Frigg descends to the earth and speaks to vol- 
canoes and water-spouts, to frost and hail, and they 
promise to spare her son. Among the aquatic 
powers, from the ocean to the smallest brook, 
among the stones, from the mightiest rock to the 
pebble, and among the metals, from gold to iron, 
there is none that does not swear the same oath. 
The plants also promise, from the oak to the small- 
est shrub and down to the humblest grass. 

Triumphantly she returns to heaven to announce 
the good news. Everybody is overjoyed. They 
celebrate the happy result of her journey by a 
family dinner, at which Loki succeeds in exhilarat- 
ing even Odin himself by 
his merry jokes. He had 
never appeared in better 
spirits ; had never seemed 
to sympathize more warmly 
with the happy court. 

When the feast was 
ended and the last cups 
were drained in honor of 
Balder, some one proposed 
for the general amusement 
to try how far all these sub- 
stances, vegetable or min- 
eral, will be faithful to the oath they have sworn, 
when brought face to face with Balder. 



/ , 



^\.K1(V ^ J) J<c 



.))<-,^^ 



192 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



Beginning with the most inoffensive of them all, 
they throw at him a clod of earth ; the clod of 
earth breaks into a cloud of dust before it touches 
him. Then they pour a pitcher of w^ater over him 
and the water forms a cascade above him without 
wetting even his garments. They try to strike 




him with a hazel wand ; the wand, slipping from 
the hand that holds it, breaks in two. Balder is 
amused by the game and encourages the bystand- 
ers to renew their attacks. 

The skillful Uller shoots at him a pointless 
arrow, aiming, from excessive caution, only at his 
shoulder. The arrow passes at a distance of twenty 
feet from its aim and continues its flight through 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 1 93 

the air, like a bird in search of its prey beyond 
the clouds. 

Ten other assailants meet the same fate, trying 
their luck with a fragment of rock and a heavy 
branch in the shape of a club. But the fragment 
was of stone and remembered the promise given to 
Frigg, and the club was cut from a tree and the 
tree remembered the promise given to Frigg. 

Encouraged by so many reassuring trials, Freyr 
desired to try his magic sword, but for once the 
faithful sword was deaf to his orders. Thor bran- 
dished his hammer, but the hammer suddenly 
reversed its action and well nigh made him fall 
back upon his heels. Freyr's sword and Thor's 
hammer w^ere both of iron and the iron remem- 
bered the promise given to Frigg. 

Loki took care not to appear. 

The sport was over, as it seemed, when suddenly 
the blind god Hoder, Balder's own brother, was 
seen to advance, feeling his way, towards the bright 
god. Hoder held in his hand a small bunch of 
leaves, a bit of grass, at least it appeared such 
after the fearful instruments that had just been 
brought into play. 

Immense laughter, a laughter such as the gods 

of Homer were in the habit of enjoying, broke 

out at the sight; Loki laughed till his sides shook 

and Hoder himself shared the general hilarity. 

13 



194 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

But he drew nearer and nearer, shaking his bit of 
verdure in the air ; then, almost tottering and hav- 
ing learnt from the bystanders in what direction 
he would have to turn, he threw the slender twig 
against Balder, using his full force, which was 
prodigious. 

He hit Balder full in the chest and the god fell 
instantly. That bright light which was always 
shining around him became extinct ; he closed his 
eyes, and lowered his beautiful brow deprived of 
its glory Balder was dead ! 

He had been struck by a bit of mistletoe. Frigg 
had addressed her prayers to the oak tree, but she 
had not thought of the mistletoe which grows on 
the oak tree ; the mistletoe had given no promise 
to Frigg. Must we look here for a symbolic mean- 
ing ? Did this mean, that the Druidical mistletoe 
was soon to triumph over the gods of Scandinavia } 
This could not be so, for at the time to which we 
have come, there was no trace left of the wise 
worship of the Druids of the first epoch ; the 
Druids of the second epoch were fast losing their 
power, and the Scandinavian gods were daily in- 
creasing in popularity, even beyond the banks of 
the Rhine. 

But we ought not to interrupt this account of 
Balder's death, which is as poetical and as touch- 
ing as the most famous fables of Greece. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 1 95 

When blind Hoder, whose name must not be 
uttered, you remember, hears the cries of despair 
which break out all around him, and encircle him 
on all sides with maledictions, he is troubled and 
seriously distressed. Then, all of a sudden joining 
in the distressed cries of the Ases, he falls utterly 
overcome upon his brother's body and denounces 
Loki as the author of this calamity. Loki has re- 
proached him for being the only one who took no 
part in the amusements by which they thought to 
honor Balder, and he it was who had not only 
given him the fatal plant but who had also directed 
his arm. Loki was jealous of all the perfections of 
Balder and he hated him as much as the other 
gods loved him. 

They look for Loki, but he has disappeared. 
No doubt he has tried to escape from the ven- 
geance of the Ases by seeking refuge in the 
mountains among the giants, his natural allies, or 
perhaps in the deep sea, with the serpent lormun- 
gandur. And whilst they thus lament, inquire, and 
investigate, Balder's soul is carried off by the black 
Alfs to Niflheim, the dark vestibule of hell. 

Odin still cherished hopes that his dead son 
might be restored to him. Upon his order Her- 
mode, the messenger of the gods, mounts his horse 
Sleipner and goes to see Hela, but neither promises 
nor threats can move the dread goddess. Fate has 



196 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

decided, and Fate is above the gods, as the gods 
are above men. 

Then Frigg herself goes to see the pale goddess. 
Frigg weeps and the merciless goddess is unable 
to keep her heart from softening when she sees 
the tears of such a mother. She says to her : — 

" Let all created beings — mind, I say, all created 
beings! — give a tear to Balder, a tear such as you 
have shed in my presence, and Balder shall be 
restored to you ! " 

Frigg was unwilling to trust any one but herself 
with the effort to realize such hopes. Once more 
she went over the world, gathering around her all 
the races of men, one after the other, and as she 
mentioned the name of Balder, tears flowed from 
all eyes. 

For three months she visited all the forests and 
all the mountains, the seas and the lakes and the 
animals that live in the waters and the mountains ; 
and seas and lakes and mountains wept. She 
went even to the abode of the giants, the enemies 
of the gods, and her grief made the giants also 
weep ; every tree wept and every rock wept. 

Frigg thought her task was accomplished, and 
was filled with joy ; but she heard that in the far 
East of Midgard there lived an old woman in the 
heart of a forest of iron trees. As she lived alone 
there, far from any beaten track, she had never 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



197 



become known to the intrepid traveller. Now, 
however, Frigg sought her out by steep paths, cut 
up with gullies and fierce torrents, and at last 




found her. When the mother told her pitiful tale, 
the iron trees wept, but the old woman would not 
weep. 



198 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

They called her Thorck, and her heart was ten 
times as hard as her name. 

" What do I care for your Balder ? " she cried ; 
" what do I care whether he is dead or alive ? 
You have other sons ; I have not one left me. 
Once I had four, and all four were my pride, my 
delight. They were so fair ! They were so tall ! 
Your son Thor killed every one of them. I wept 
much at that time. Now, it is all over. Look 
for tears elsewhere, I have no tears to give to 
other people's sorrows ! " 

Frigg bowed down before her, begged her, con- 
jured her, and even fell on her knees before her; 
but the old woman was inflexible. Balder had to 
remain a prisoner with Hela. 

Some interpreters of Scandinavian runes have 
been of the opinion that the bereaved mother in 
the forest of iron trees was none other than Loki 
himself, changed into an old woman. That thought, 
however, is inadmissible. The Ases were beyond 
the reach of Hela, and Loki's refusal would not 
have rendered void the unanimous vote of all 
Nature, when tears of pity and sympathy alone 
were to be given as votes. It is much more plau- 
sible to suppose, that Loki had induced Thorck to 
refuse by his counsels and by his enchantments ; 
through him the heart of the old woman had be- 
come iron as well as the trees of the forest in 



which she lived. Thus Loki had twice caused the 
death of Balder ! 

It was at this time that a strange, almost incred- 
ible report was for the first time heard among 
men. The Druids whispered it cautiously into the 
ears of the initiated, and voices were said to utter 
it in the air during the night. This report, a ter- 
rible secret, a most unexpected revelation, stated 
that the gods were about to die ! Thor would die, 
after seeing lightning become extinct in his hands ; 
Odin himself would die, and so would the others. 
The fate of each one of them was depending on 
the fate of this fragile world over which they ruled, 
and this w^orld had to perish because Balder had 
perished. 

What ? Should the Universe change back into 
chaos ? Was there no all-powerful will that could 
arrest the process of destruction before it was too 
late ? But where could such omnipotent will be 
found, now that the gods were no longer to be in 
existence ? 

Listen ! listen to these verses from the Edda ! 

" Who is the most ancient among the gods ? 

" Alfader, that is, the universal father. He has 
always been and will ever be ; he governs all things, 
both big and small ; he has made the heavens, the 
earth and the gods. Odin created man, but Al- 
fader gave him his immortal soul ! " 



Thus we come back to the pure essence of an 
only god, who is ever the same, whether his name 
be Teut, Esus, or Jehovah ; the other gods are 
nothing but emanations proceeding from him, Hving 
symbols intended to live for a few thousand cen- 
turies — that is all. 

Do you hear ? Do you understand now ? 

Do , you understand why the great ash tree 
Ygdrasil is continually gnawed at its root by a 
dragon ? Why four famished stags feed upon its 
foliage ? You understand ? Well ! 

But by what sign shall we recognize the ap- 
proaching end of the gods — that which the Edda 
calls their twilight ? 

The most important among all the sacred books 
of the North, a volume containing the prophecies 
of the divine sybil Vola, the Vohispa, will tell 
you. 

" When the fatal moment draws near, their voice 
will cease to be able to Titter the accustomed chants, 
and the luminous brightness radiating from their 
bodies will fade away little by little. 

" When they leS!^^ their bath, their bodies will 
not dry at once, as they do now, but remain moist ; 
drops of water will continually drip from them, 
and they will in this respect become like unto 
mortal men. 
^ "In order to overcome these first symptoms of 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE, 20I 

indisposition, the wife of the god Bragi, Iduna, will 
give them certain apples to eat, which she keeps in 
reserve. These apples will have the effect of 
strengthening them and of restoring to them a kind 
of fictitious youth for a few thousand years per- 
haps. 

" One day, however, their eyes will begin to 
wink; the next morning, upon awaking, their eye- 
lids will be found closed, and then they will turn 
red and blear. 

" At table, when proceeding to their usual liba- 
tions, their slightly tremulous hands will be unable 
to hold their cups steadily ; some of the wine or 
the hydromel will escape and their garments will 
remain stained. 

" Woe to them if a grain of dust adheres to 
these stained garments ! 

" Woe to them still more, if the wreaths of flow- 
ers or of jewels begin to fade and to wither on 
their brows ! 

" Finally, when the sweet perfumes which now 
are exhaled from their bodies, change into acrid 
and sickening odors, there will be nothing left for 
them but to make their last will." 

I am well convinced that this last phrase has 
been stealthily introduced into the Voluspa by 
some kind of criminal and fraudulent trick. The 
rest, however, is a faithful translation of the origi- 



202 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



nal text, as taken from the best authenticated edi- 
tions. 

" Then," the prophecy continues, " then three 
sacred cocks, dwelHng in the three principal worlds. 




will crow and reply to each other, announcing the 
Twilight of Greatness. 

" Then, everything on earth will be in disorder 
and confusion ; families will be at variance with 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 203 

each other, the claims of blood will no longer be 
acknowledged, and brothers will be arrayed against 
brothers. 

" Adultery and incest, robbery and murder, will 
prevail among men, and the age will be an age 
of barbarism, an age of the sword, an age of tem- 
pests, an age of wolves ! 

" The wolves will be ready to devour the sun. 
Three long winters, with no summers between 
them, will cover the earth with snow and ice ; the 
branches of the trees will give way under the 
immense burden ; the sun will be darkened more 
and more ; the moon will dissolve into vapor and 
the stars will go out ; the mountains, shaking in 
their foundations, will be tossed to and fro like 
reeds in a river ; the earth will reject all the plants, 
the trees, and the rocks which it now bears ; the 
waters will cast the fish upon the shore and with 
them their algae, their corals, and even the bodies 
of shipwrecked men, hideous skeletons, whose rat- 
tling bones will chime in grimly with the warning 
of the rising flood. 

" Then the sea will grow dark, and upon its 
waters there will be seen floatino^ that monstrous 
ship made of the nails of dead men. At the 
rudder, Ymer, the giant, will stand, having been 
recalled to life for a time, in order to assist Loki 
in scaling the hea\'ens by the way of Bifrost, the 



204 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

rainbow, at the head of the other Giants of the 
Frost. 

" Then Surtur the Black will arrive from the 
southern regions, from the realm of fire, with all 
of his malignant demons, bearing torches and ready 
to set heaven and earth on fire. 

" Then Hela, the pale goddess of death, will set 
free her prisoners, the wolf Fenris first of all, and 
march at the head of these monsters to assist the 
powers of the South. 

" Then the gods will take up their arms ; Odin 
will gather them around him, and with them the 
heroes from Walhalla ; and the last battle will be 
fought." 

But Vola's prophecy has to be fulfilled ; the gods 
must perish, and the world with them. 

Freyr dies in the flames of Surtur the Black ; 
Thor succumbs to the deadly embrace and the 
poisonous bites of the great serpent lormungandur ; 
but, before dying, he kills it. Odin is torn to 
pieces by the wolf Fenris. 

During the struggle, the heavens have been 
scaled and the genii of fire enter on horseback 
through the breach, while the giants shake the ash 
Ygdrasil, which writhes uttering long sighs, and at 
last falls with the heavenly vault which it has been 
upholding. The conquerors and the conquered 
alike are crushed under the ruins, and the world 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 205 

being set on fire by Surtur the Black, vanishes in 
smoke. 

Thus the night of the gods has to succeed to 
the twiHght of the gods. 

" O you, spirits of the mountains, do you know 
whether anything will continue to exist } " asks 
the Voluspa, at the end of these mournful proph- 
ecies. 

It must be admitted that this sombre and terri- 
ble conception is not without a certain poetic 
grandeur, a certain savage heroism, which we can- 
not help admiring. In these verses the Edda is 
in no way inferior to the most brilliant pictures 
drawn by Dante or by Milton, and more than once 
it approaches nearly to the Apocalypse. Thus, as 
the inspired Apostle saw a new heaven and a new 
earth, the Edda also announces the coming of a 
time, when a new earth, more favored and more 
perfect than ours, shall succeed the old earth. 

" When the earth is thus broken to pieces and 
devoured by fire, what shall happen next } 

" There will come forth from the sea another 
earth, more beautiful and more perfect. 

" And will any of the gods survive .^ 

" Balder will be revived and come forth from the 
place of departed spirits, to rule over the new 
world under the guidance of the imperishable Al- 
fader. 



206 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



" Then will be the reign of Justice." 

The mythology of the Scandinavians embraces, as 
we have shown, among its symbols all the great phe- 
nomena of Nature, the continual struggle between 
the two opposite principles, creation and destruc- 
tion. Being, besides, more complicated and more 
intelligent than the mythology of the Gauls and 
the Germans, it deserved to fill a large space in 
our work, and such a space we have accorded it 
cheerfully. 

But why was it that the civilization introduced 
by Odin contributed as little as the philosophy of 
the Druids to the real well-being and the improve- 
ment of mankind } I think I see the reason. 

In the eyes of the German as well as of the 
Scandinavian, God was only just and rigid. The 
rule of the God of Love had not yet begun. Per- 
haps Balder was to inaugurate it in that other 
world which the Edda announced. 

Do you hear.f* Do you understand .f* 

Amid all the incidents which were to mark the 
general conflagration, there is one which particu- 
larly recalls to our mind a great historical event. 
Alexander of Macedonia once questioned certain 
Celtic ambassadors and was told by them, that 
what they feared most upon earth, was the falling 
down of the sky. 

This apparently lofty answer filled the young 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 207 



conqueror with admiration, and it is still admired 
by modern students of history. It was, however, 
in reality nothing more than a simple, naive ren- 
dering of one of their articles of faith ; for all their 
prophetic books threatened them with the destruc- 
tion of the heavens. 

Another detail, the complete destruction of this 
globe of ours, after a series of fearful catastrophes, re- 
calls to me, not exactly a great historical fact, but a 
simple game of my childhood, which may have been 
symbolic, nay, which may have come down to us 
from the Edda. This, however, I state with great 
hesitation. 

Did you ever know one of the merriest games, 
which was once very much the fashion in city and 
country alike, when a firebrand, a burning stick, or 
a bunch of straw set on fire, was quickly passed 
from hand to hand ? To prevent its going out, 
while you held it, you were bound to pass it as 
quickly as possible to your neighbor, repeating at 
the same time the expressive words: " The little 
fellow is still alive^ Your neighbor passed it to 
his neighbor and thus it travelled all around, always 
accompanied by the same, constant burden : " The 
little fellow is still alive ! " This game was trans- 
formed during the Middle Ages, in the North, and 
especially in Bretagne, into the Torch Dance, as I 
have mentioned before. 



208 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



Now I imagine that this game, in some way or 
other, prefigured the universal conflagration that 
was to come, and the little fellow was the world. 

But we must make haste to reach our great sci- 
entific discussion. 




I 



.Dili's--'.-' ^,;i ■■ 



r>--^v/ ^ 






VIII. 

/i^^w //le Gods of India live ojtly for a Kalpa, that is, for the Time be- 
tween one World and another. — How the God Vish7tu was One- 
eyed. — How Celts and Scandinavians believed in Meteiitpsychosis, 
like the Indians. — How Odin, with his Emanations., caine forth 
from the God Buddha. — About Mahabarata and Rajnayana. — 
Chronology. — The World's Age. — Comparative Tables. — Qicota- 
tions. — Supporting Evidence. — A Cenotaph. 



My reader has had a lucky escape. 

Determined as I was to fathom in this chapter 
the true origin of the Scandinavian rehgion, and 
inspired by the zeal of a recent convert, I had col- 
lected and compared every document that could 
aid me in proving the Oriental descent of the 
priests of Odin as well as of the other Druids. I 



212 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



thought it was a beautiful doctrine, and especially 
an entirely new one. 

When I finished my chapter, which I thought 
was exceedingly well done, I read it to Doctor 
Rosahl, expecting, I must confess, to be warmly 
congratulated. 

" Why, my dear sir," he said, when I had fin- 
ished, " you have made great efforts to prove a 
thing which has been established long since. All 
the master minds of France and Germany, to say 
nothing of other nations, agree on that subject. I 
mean men like Fauriel, Lassen, Lenormand, Am- 
pere, Eichhoff, Saint-Marc Girardin, Marmier, Klap- 
roth, Ozanam, the two Remusats, the two Thierrys, 
the two Humboldts, the two Grimms, not to men- 
tion twenty others. 

" Why will you come to their assistance after they 
have won the victory .f^ Do you merely wish to 
display your scholarship '^. " 

I indignantly denied the charge, and seizing my 
manuscript with both hands, I resolutely threw it 
into the fire. 

A remnant of paternal weakness induced me, 
however, to retain the summary of that famous 
chapter, and I have inserted it here in its regular 
place, so that it might bear evidence of my wasted 
labor. As the corpus delicti is no longer in exist- 
ence, this summary may stand there like an inscrip- 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 213 



tion on an empty tomb, to honor the memory of 
the deceased. 

My Vlllth chapter is thus changed into a ceno- 
taph. 

I — a scholar ! Great God ! Let the reader not 
be disturbed. My purpose in writing this work was 
nothing more than to try and collect along the 
banks of the Rhine all the curious myths which 
have survived the ancient creeds of Europe; for 
they have all come to the great river. There the 
traveller finds piled up, after the manner of allu- 
vial layers, all the ancient fables, all the marvelous 
and often childish tales to which the credulity and 
lively imagination of our forefathers gave a ready 
welcome. With the exception of a very few cases, 
in which the grave nature of the subject lifts me 
necessarily into higher regions, I wish mainly to 
tell you once more Grandmamma s Tales. That is 
what we are going to do next. The Edda itself 
has no other meaning, for Edda means the same 
as our grandmother. 

No, I am too great a lover of tales of a tub ever 
to have claimed the reputation of being a scholar; 
but at times I like to glean a little where scholars 
have reaped. I have been shown the best spots, 
and I pilfer as well as I can — that is all. 

An ignoramus and a pilferer, I resemble a bee 
which might fly into a botanical garden and, utterly 



214 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



unacquainted with the Latin names of flowers, carry 
off joyously a rich harvest, without pretending to be 
able to make academic honey. 





IX. 



Confederation of all the Northern Gods. — Freedom of Re- 
ligio7i. — Christia7tity . — Miserere mei ! — Homeric Emi7ne7'ation. 

— Pmssian, Slavic, aiid Fin7iish Deities. — The God of Che7'ries 
atid the God of Bees. — A Silver Wo77ia7t. — Ilmarinnen's Wed- 
ding Song. — A Skelet07i God. — Yaga-Babds Pestle a7id Mo7'- 
tar. — Preparatio7i for Battle. — The Little Chapel on the Hill. 

— The Sig7tal for the Attack. — Jesus and Mary. 

It is high time for us to return to the banks of 
the Rhine, where the two rehgions of Jupiter and 
Odin were about to meet face to face. 



2l8 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



At that time the terrible prophecies of the Edda 
were far from being near their fulfillment; Odin 
had a long period of omnipotence yet before him. 

To the great surprise of the adversaries, the Ro- 
mans, so far from showing any alarm at his ap- 
proach, received him and his retinue of deities as old 
acquaintances. 

According to their unchanging policy they would 
see in him nothing but a Jupiter, and in fierce Thor 
another gallant Mars, somewhat sobered by a long 
residence in northern countries and excessive use 
of beer. 

The Romans looked, in fact, upon all of these 
Scandinavian gods and goddesses simply as upon 
myths of their own that came back to them once 
more. 

The poets hallowed these claims and the histo- 
rians tried to justify them. According to some, 
Odin the Conqueror, a member of the family of 
Ases, had first given to some of his conquests the 
name of Asia (which might very well be so), and 
then receded before the Roman armies to cold hy- 
perborean regions. Here he had adopted the gods 
of his new conquerors, hoping that they would, in 
return, make him victorious — which seems to me 
in the highest degree improbable. According to 
others, the poet Ovid, when Augustus had banished 
him to Scythia, had learnt the language of the bar- 



f'' 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



219 



barians, among whom he was Hving, and finding 
them wilHng and eager to Hsten to him, had recited 
before them his " Metamorphoses." This was all 




<-^i/ 



that was needed to induce the Scythians to make 
for themselves gods after the model of the Roman 
gods. 

Tacitus, Plutarch, Strabo, and a host of the most 
illustrious writers never hesitated to give currency 
to such childish stories, ignoring entirely the date 
of the Scandinavian religion. 

As Rome, however, permitted no human sacri- 
fices, the priests of Odin and of Teut had at first 
withdrawn far from the beaten track, into the 
depths of dark old forests. There they could live 
quietly, practice without restraint the religion of 
their forefathers, and kill their men in perfect secu- 
rity. At least such were their hopes. The Roman 
soldiers, however, who handled the woodman's axe 



220 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



as readily as the sword, and the spade as well as 
the spear, soon made big holes in these venerable 







forests, murdered the murderers, and overthrew 
their blood-stained altars. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



221 



Occasionally it happened that the brave legiona- 
ries who were employed in these hazardous enter- 
prises, did not reappear. The proconsuls, whose 
duty it was to keep Germany in order, would have 
liked to inflict severe punishment ; but just then 
the great reaction began to set in, from the North 
against the South. 

Whilst Rome was making efforts to establish her 
power in Germany, certain German tribes, Franks 
and Burgundians, invaded France and began to 
settle down in some of the conquered Roman 
provinces. The proconsuls thought it both prudent 
and wise not to raise the question of religion ; and 
for a long time a truce was tacitly agreed upon be- 
tween all the different creeds, though not without 
some misgivings on both sides. Odin had his altars 
by the side of those of Jupiter ; a temple in honor 
of Thor stood facing a temple dedicated to Mars, 
and if Bacchus, Diana, and Apollo had their sacred 
days, Bragi, Frigg, and Freya had theirs also. 

In spite of this general toleration, the parties 
watched each other carefully. 

Sooner or later a holy war had to break out ; in 
certain regions it had already begun, when fisher- 
men of the Rhine busily drawing in their nets, 
heard, for the first time, a still small voice coming 
down upon them on the waters of the river, which 
whispered the names of Jesus and Mary. 



222 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



The same voice and the same names were simul- 
taneously heard again and again before Strasbourg, 




Mayence, and Cologne. It was Christianity that 
was approaching. 

These wondrous words, which now the river only 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 223 

murmured, had soon after been forced by some 
mystic power from the Hps of the Druidesses in 
their prophetic exaltation and from the priests of 
Jupiter, as they consulted their auguries. 

There was a Druid, who, in the act of sacrificing, 
was suddenly seized with inspiration, and dropping 
the bloody knife felt impelled to cry out: Miserere 
mei, Jesus ! and yet Latin had until then been an 
unknown tongue among the Druids ! 

The nations stood expectant, waiting for the 
revelation of a new faith. 

Soon a number of fugitives from Tolbiac, return- 
ing to the Rhine, produced consternation in all 
hearts by the announcement that Clovis, the king 
of the Franks, who had long been suspected of a 
secret understanding with Rome, had gone over to 
the god of the Christians, and that the god of the 
Christians was at that moment advancine at the 
head of ten legions of destroying angels. 

When this news came, the rival religions laid 
aside their jealousy, and terrified by a common 
danger, joined hands to resist the invader. A gen- 
eral appeal was made not only by the followers of 
Odin to those of Jupiter, but also to the Northern 
gods, the Finnish gods, the Russian gods, and the 
Slavic gods. The danger was threatening to all 
alike, and they responded to the appeal and came 
to the Rhine. 



224 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



We cannot so rapidly pass over this vast Olym- 
pian assembly of gods, a poet's dream, it may be, 




but a traditional dream, full of strange and striking 
splendor, which completes in a most unexpected 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 225 

manner the limited description we have tried to 
give of Northern Myths. 

At this grand meeting there appeared in the 
first place a goodly number of Borussian or Prus- 
sian gods, among whom stood first and foremost 
Percunos, the divine leader of the heavenly bodies ; 
Pikollos, whose face was as pale as Hela's and 
whose duty was, like hers, to preside over hell; 
exacting, however, from men nothing but prayers 
accompanied by beating hearts, he cared nothing 
whether he was feared or beloved. A third god, 
Potrympos, had the appearance of a youth, with 
smiling lips and with a wreath of wheat ears and 
flowers on his brow ; this was the god of War. Of 
War ? And what meant the smile on his lips and. 
the wheat ears on his brow ? They indicated that 
he was also the god of public supplies and even 
of love. 

It seems that, in ancient Prussia, War was the 
purveyor-general and supplied everything. 

In the retinue of this great trio, we find An- 
trympos, the god of seas and lakes ; Poculos, the 
god of the air and of storms ; then, after these 
gods ending in os, came other deities ending in us ; 
Pilvitus, the god of riches, Auchwitus, the god of 
the sick, and Marcopulus, the god of the nobles. 
The latter was the terror of the common people, 
whom he held under an iron yoke. In order to 
15 



226 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



conciliate his good will, they prayed to Puscatus, 
another god in us^ but a kindhearted god. He 
lived under an elder tree, and the price he exacted 
in return for his mediation was the modest gift of 
a piece of bread and a schoppen of beer. 




Although their priests were called Crives or 
Waidelottes, their ceremonies were, nevertheless, 
mere imitations of those of the Druids. The 
Borussians honored particularly the famous oak of 
Remowe, to which Percunos, Pikollos, and Potrym- 
pos paid a daily visit. To these same gods they 
offered their prisoners of war ; but they were not 
sacrificed by means of a knife after the German 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



227 



or the Scandinavian manner. They destroyed them 
by fire or they gave them to be devoured to enor- 
mous serpents who Hved upon the altar and for 
the altar. 

Now all these gods have come to Germany ac- 
companied by their monstrous reptiles, by griffins 




fearful to behold, and by demons summoned from 
hell, all called upon to take part in the impending 



struggle. 



Almost at the same time with the Prussian gods 
arrived also the Scythian gods and those of the 
Sarmatians, the former in chariots, according to 
the manner of travelling which prevailed among 
those nations. They also bowed low, like their peo- 
ple, before the all-powerful Tahiti, the great repre- 
sentative of their religion. Fire. The Scythians 
had evidently derived very little profit from hearing 
Ovid read his " Metamorphoses." 

The others were but few in numbers ; their 
representatives were their chief triad : Perun, their 
Jupiter Tonans ; Rujewit, who controlled the clouds ; 
and Sujatowist, the judge of the dead. These three 
brought in their train only Trizbog and the Tas- 
sanis, that is, the plague and the furies. Their 
other gods, unable to do anything for success in 
war, had wisely stayed at home. 

Can I neglect mentioning the names and attri- 
butes of these inoffensive local deities, whom the 
fierce Sarmatians worshipped. They were : — 

Kirnis, who causes the cherries to ripen ; 

Sardona, who watches over the nut trees ; 

Austei'a, who presides over the education of bees ; 

The sweet Kolna, who sees to the marriage of 
flowers. 

There were also gods or goddesses of corn, of 
the kneading-tub and the wash-tub, the god of flies 
and the god of butterflies ; we must confess that 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 229 

these deities could hardly have been very useful 
on the banks of the Rhine. 

But Odin and Jupiter could count upon more 
efficient and more reliable allies in the gods of 
Finland. 

The gods bear almost always the impress of the 
character of their followers and of those over whom 
they rule, and what other nation has ever given 
such proofs of undaunted courage as the Finns or 
Finlanders 1 Pirates on the Baltic, as the Scandi- 
navians were pirates on the ocean, they shared with 
them the booty that could be gotten in all the 
Northern seas. They had originally come from the 
high table-lands of Asia, together with their brethren 
the Turks, the Mongols, and the Tartars ; their first 
appearance was made under the name of Ugorians 
or Ogres, and surely the Ogres have made a lasting 
and a terrible impression on our popular tales ! 

The Finns consisted almost exclusively of sailors 
and soldiers, of miners and blacksmiths. To smelt 
iron and to fashion it into anchors for their ships, 
into lances, swords, and spears, was their principal 
occupation. Hence they paid special reverence to 
Rauta-Rekhi, the personification of iron; to Wul- 
angoinen,. the father of iron, and to Ruojuota, the 
nurse of iron. They worshipped in like manner 
with special zeal three sombre virgins, whose power- 
ful breasts were running over with a dark milk, 



230 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

which turned Into iron as it cooled off, as water 
turns into ice when it cools off. 

Their principal gods, besides these whom I have 
mentioned, were again three, and, as usual, three 
brothers. 

The oldest, Vainamoinen, of hoary age, created 
celestial and terrestial fire, that is to say, the sun 
and the volcanoes. 

The second, Ukko, has to provide them with 
fire, so as to prevent the earth from returning to 
the condition of an immense icicle, and the sun to 
the form of a heap of extinct embers. Living in 
the clouds he now blows upon the sun and now 
upon the volcanoes so as to keep up the blaze in 
both, and encourages them with his voice, the 
thunder. 

Ilmarinnen, the third, a very industrious and most 
skillful workman, has forged the earth and the seven 
heavens by which it is surrounded ; hence he is 
called the Eternal Blacksmith. He spends his life 
at the forge, making sometimes stars of all sizes and 
at other times spare moons. He has even made a 
silver woman, not for himself, however, but for a 
younger brother, whose manifold and incessant oc- 
cupations left him no time to take the necessary 
steps for a suitable marriage. This woman of fine 
metal, well-made, beautiful, charming, and of the 
sweetest disposition, had but one single defect, — no 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 23 1 

one could come near her without being chilled to 
the marrow of his bones. 

However, the most skillful blacksmith cannot be 
expected to make a perfect woman at the first 
trial. 

When the question of his own marriage was 
mooted, Ilmarinnen preferred taking a ready made 
wife, and, according to the usage which prevailed 
among the Finns as well as among the Germans, he 
bought one. 

For the sake of enjoying some relief after such 
a long enumeration of deities, now entirely out of 
fashion, I feel strongly tempted to insert here a 
saga, a Finnish legend, which treats of this very 
marriage of Ilmarinnen, the blacksmith, and was 
composed by his own sister. In this wedding-song, 
which is full of the sweetest and chastest senti- 
ments, she exhibits the domestic life of these arti- 
san-gods, who sometimes were disposed to beat 
their wives, — at least the saga suggests the occur- 
rence of such events. 

Ilmarinnen has just been married and becomes 
impatient, he actually swears at not seeing his 
young bride come to him in great haste. Listen 
to what is sung to him, with an accompaniment 
on a small Kantele guitar, by his sister, the hostess 
of Pohjola, in order to calm him the better : — 

" O husband, brother of my brothers, you have 



232 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

already waited long for the coming of this happy 
day; wait patiently a little longer. Your well be- 
loved will not tarry lonsf. She finishes her toilet ; 
but you know it is far to the fountain to w^iich 
she has to go for water. 

" O husband, brother of my brothers, be patient ! 
She has just put on her robe, but she has only put 
on one sleeve. You would surely not have her 
appear before you with one sleeve empty ? 

" O husband, she has just arranged her hair ; a 
beautiful belt encircles her waist, but she has a 
shoe only on one foot ; she must needs have time 
to put on the other shoe also. 

" Husband, .... here she is coming, .... but 
she has put on only one glove, .... give her 
time to put on the other ! " 

When the young bride appears at last, the good 
hostess of Pohjola is suddenly deeply concerned for 
her : — 

" O wife, O purchased maid, O dove that has 
been sold ! My sister, my poem, my green branch, 
how many tears you will shed ! 

" Your family were very eager to have the 
money paid down for you in the hollow of a shield. 

" Poor ignorant girl, you thought you were leav- 
ing the paternal roof for a few hours, for a day, 
perhaps ! Alas ! You have surrendered forever, you 
have a master now ! " 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 233 

And then turning once more to Ilmarinnen, she 
adds : — 

" O husband, brother of my brothers, do not 
teach this child, the slave, whip in hand, the way 
she must walk. 

" Do not make her cry under the rod or under 
the stick; teach her gently, in a soft voice, with 
closed doors. 

" The first year by words, the second year by a 
frown, the third year by gently pressing her foot. 
Be patient! 

" If, after three years, she is unwilling to learn, 
O husband, brother of my brothers, take a few 
slender reeds, take a little broom-sedge, chastise 
her, but with a rod covered with wool. 

" If she still resists, well ; cut a twig in the 
woods, a willow branch, not too stout, and hide it 
beneath your garment. Let no one guess what is 
going to happen. 

" Above all, do not strike her hands nor her 
face; for her brother might well ask you: Has a 
wolf bitten her? Her father might well say to 
you : Has a bear torn her thus .^ " 

Does not this Saga, with all its harsh allusions, 
breathe a most touching tenderness } It seems that 
the most delicate sentiments were preserved intact 
amid the coarsest manners and the most violent 
passions. What was your name, O naive muse of 



2 34 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

Finland, who inspired the good hostess of Pohjola? 
Were you not perhaps a daughter of those beauti- 
ful Indian gandharvas, who said, — 

" The elephant is led by a rope, the horse by a 
bridle, and a woman by her heart." 

And does it not remind us of our humble and 
simple-minded neighbors, when wt hear how this 
Eternal Blacksmith, this first-class god who has 
made heaven and earth, who buys a wife and beats 
her, expresses his fear of the reproaches of his 
brother-in-law and his father-in-law? 

After this pause we must go on describing the 
other armies of gods who had hastened to the 
banks of the Rhine in order to resist a common 
enemy. 

By the side of the heavenly representatives of 
Scythia and Sarmatia, of Prussia and Finland, we 
find other gods belonging to the different Slavonic 
races. But why should we repeat here a complete 
list of all this multitude of allies, whose curious 
names the most retentive memory could not pos- 
sibly retain ? 

Suffice it to say that the Lithuanians, the Mo- 
ravians, the Silesians, Bohemians, and Russians 
were represented at this meeting by their most for- 
midable deities. There was Ilia, the great archer, 
whose arrows hit the mark after having passed 
through a thickness of nine fir trees; Radgost, the 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 235 

merciless destroyer ; Flintz, the skeleton god, who 
bore a lion's head on his shoulders and drove a 
chariot of flames ; and the giant Yaga-Baba, whose 
head reached high above the loftiest mountains. 
When a warrior was seized with fear before he be- 
held the enemy, he immediately took him from the 
ranks and brayed him in a wooden mortar with an 
iron pestle. 

All four of them brought in their retinue whole 
battalions of Strygi or blood-suckers, of voracious 
Trolls, Marowitzes, and Kikimoras, who smothered 
their victims ; of Polkrans and Leschyes, the latter 
a kind of dwarf satyrs, who could at will change 
into giants, and the former half men and half dogs, 
singing and barking alternately. Their songs, as 
fearful as their barkings, spread terror around them, 
and they themselves killed at a hundred yards' dis- 
tance by the venom of their breath. 

Such were the allies whom the Roman and Scan- 
dinavian gods arrayed against Christianity. 

When the new comers had been properly organ- 
ized, Jupiter's eagle rose above the clouds, uttered 
three piercing cries, turning to the three points of 
the horizon, and at once from the East, from the 
West, and from the South, there came forth the 
gods of Rome and Greece, abandoning their mys- 
terious retreats. There was Neptune with his Tri- 
tons, his Harpies, and his marine monsters; and 



236 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

there was Pluto with his Fates, his Furies, and his 
whole host from hell. 

Odin struck his buckler, and from the far North 
came not only the gods and the Valkyrias, with the 
heroes of Walhalla, but even the adversaries of the 
Ases, — Hela, the wolf Fenris, the Giants of the 
Frost with Loki at their head, — and all enlisted 
under him to take part in the immense slaughter. 

Never had the armies of a Darius, an Alexander, 
an Attila, or a Charlemagne, presented a more im- 
posing and more terrible aspect ; nor has the world 
ever seen the like since. 

When the Sibyls and the Norns, the augurs 
and the witches had been consulted, the march 
began. 

A few miles from the other side of the river, in 
the direction of Argentoratum (Strasbourg), about 
half way up the slope of a gentle hill, there stood 
a little chapel which had not been quite finished. 

The Sibyls and Druidesses had pointed out 
this building as the end of the first day's march, 
not doubting but that the god of the Christians 
would appear at the head of his legions, to defend 
his temple. 

The Confederates were advancing silently under 
cover of the night in order to surprise the enemy, 
whom they thought fully prepared for resistance. 
Odin was in command of the right wing of the 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



237 



army, Jupiter of the left. The Scythian, Sarma- 
tian, Borussian, and Finnish deities under the or- 
ders of Tahiti, Perun, Percunos, Wainamoinen, and 
Radgost, commanded the centre. 

As soon as they came in sight of the hill, they 
noticed a very peculiar twinkling light, which shone 
out from the deep darkness, and was surrounded 
below by a circle of light. 

Immediately the three light-footed messengers of 
the Roman, Slavonic, and Scandinavian gods. Mer- 
cury, Algis, and Hermode, were sent out to recon- 
noitre, accompanied by the Eumenides, the Valky- 
rias, and a small detachment of Lapithes and Cen- 
taurs. When they returned they reported that the 
light proceeded from the flaming swords of ten 
thousand destroying angels. They were quite sure 
of it. 

Some of the allies immediately rushed forth, as 
is the usage in all epic battles, to challenge the 
chiefs of the angels to single combat. But Jupiter 
and Odin, thinking that all these private contests 
can only jeopardize the success of the great battle, 
compelled them to obey orders. 

Thor, who had been one of the first to rush 
forth, was so much disappointed, that in his anger 
he let his heavy mace fall upon a little town that 
was on their route, and that might possibly have 
impeded the progress of the army. The mace 



238 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 






instantly returned to the hand of the owner, and 
then fell and returned as^ain and as^ain. 

Thanks to this inci- 
-_ dent, the plain had been 

cleared and levelled at 
the same time, and the 
signal for the attack was 
given at once. The 
Corybantes beat their 
drums in muffled tones; 
the chants of the Bards 
and the Skalds respond- 
ed from the right and 
the left wing, although 
their harps were soon 
drowned in the bleat of 
the trumpets, the furious 
barking of Cerberus, the three-headed dog, of 
his brother dog Garm, and the bowlings of the 
Strygi, the Kikimoras, and the Polkrans. 
This was by no means all of the concert. 
Mars, Odin, Potrympos, and the other war-gods 
now drew their swords, which produced a fearful 
grating sound as they came out of their sheaths ; 
next Jupiter sounds his thunder among the Romans, 
and after him thunder Perun among the Slaves, 
Ukko among the Finns, and Thor among the 
Scandinavians. The repeated crash of thunder and 




MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



239 



lightning mingles with the rumbling of the chariots 
of Tahiti, of Flintz, the skeleton god, and of Pocu- 
los and Stribog, the gods of waterspouts and of 
Northern tempests; the Egipans, the Cyclops, the 




blacksmiths of Ilmarlnnen, begin to push immense 
masses of rock before them, brandishing entire oak 
trees as spears ; while the Giants of the Frost with 
fearful clamor, w^hich is taken up by the whole 
army of invaders, follow them, led by the equally 
gigantic Yaga-Baba, the terrible conductor of such 
an infernal concert, who marks the time by beating 
with his iron pestle upon his wooden mortar. 

All these fearful noises, all these echoing explo- 
sions, seem to confound heaven and earth ; the 



horizon trembles and shakes, the mountains start 
and stagger. 

But the holy hill stands unmoved. 

The light which at first shone only at the base 
has gradually risen as high as the summit, and the 
little chapel now shines brightly like a brilliant 
constellation. 

Surprised at seeing no enemy appear, the army 
of the pagan gods makes a halt. 

Suddenly, O miracle ! lifted up as if by a gust 
of wind from on high, the little chapel vanishes, 
and in its place is seen a simple altar surmounted 
by a cross. 

Before this altar stands a young maid, showing 
neither ornament nor weapon of defense, — a Vir- 
gin barefooted, with a child in her arms. 

She comes down the hill, a smile on her lips ; 
the brilliant light still encircles her brow and the 
brow of the infant ; she comes straight up to the 
allied gods, who begin to look at each other in 
utter consternation. 

She draws nearer, and all of a sudden an irre- 
sistible panic seizes Jupiter and Odin, Mars and 
Thor, Wainomoinen and Perun, together with the 
Eumenides, the Tassanis, the Cyclops, and the 
Giants, and all turn back towards the river, cross 
it in fearful disorder, and crush each other in 
their desperate flight, while their own temples and 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



241 



their own statues fall to pieces in the universal 
destruction. 

Some of these were buried in the Rhine, where 
we shall hereafter find them once more ; the re- 
mainder reached in sad condition their northern 
homes, abandoning almost the whole of Germany 
to Jesus and Mary. 

It is but right to notice that in all the traditions 
which speak of this struggle between the gods and 
the rising religion of Christ, no mention is ever 
made of the Teut and the Esus of the Celts, the 
Alfader of the Scandinavians, the Jumala of the 
Finns, and the Bog of the Slaves, — nor is the 
Unknown God of the Romans ever mentioned. 
The reason is that each one of these grand deities, 
like the Indra of the Indian heaven, contained all 
the others and represented to the mind the idea of 
the only one eternal God. 

This grand but vain effort of the pagan gods 
was made, according to tradition, about the year 
510 of the Christian era. In the course of the 
same year King Clovis determined to erect a tem- 
ple in honor of Christ which should be worthy of 
Him, and laid the foundation of the Minster at 
Strasbourg, perhaps with a design to replace the 
little chapel, which had disappeared in so miracu- 
lous a manner. 
16 



.4 

I 




^^ \ ■- /' .V' 



1 ' 



I 



\^^ 



/ \ 



^y 



v^^: 













X. 

Marietta and the Sweet-briar. — Esus and Jesus. — AviaL 
gam. — A Neophyte. — Prohibition to eat Horse-flesh. — Bishops 
in Arms. — Interruption. — Come Home., iny Good Friend I — 
Prussia and the Myths of the Middle Ages. — Tybilinus, the 
Black God. — The little Blue Flower. 

All who know me and esteem me will testify 
to my great natural modesty. Even when I have 



246 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

to do with fables, I would not venture to invent 
the smallest thing; I am incapable of committing 
such a crime. Nevertheless, some of my incredu- 
lous readers, when they see the marvelous nature 
of the poem, in which the triumph of Jesus and 
Mary over the allied pagan gods was celebrated, 
might possibly fancy it to be a product of my 
imagination. In self-defense I feel bound to quote 
here one of the countless traditions which allude 
to this great event. I once more borrow from the 
Muse of the Finns. 

" There lived in those days a virgin who was so 
pure, so pure and chaste, that her eyes had never 
seen anything but the eyes of her sisters, that her 
hands had never yet touched a being in creation 
for the purpose of caressing it. 

*' She lived alone in her chamber, in company 
with her distaff, and ignorant of what happened 
even within the narrow circle of shadows which the 
sun traced around her house, and the image of a 
man was as foreign to her eyes as it was to her 
mind. Her thoughts and her eyes had alike kept 
their chastity perfect. 

" She was called Marietta. 

" One day, on a fine spring morning. Marietta 
felt a vague and incomprehensible desire to enjoy 
the beauties of Nature. Her heart rose within her 
with strange emotion. 



" Impelled rather by a desire of her own than 
by a command from on high, she opened her door 
and hastened to a meadow inclosed with a hedge, 
which was near the house. 

" In this hedge a sweet-briar was in bloom. She 
drew near to inhale the fragrance ; she touched the 
flower, and that was all that was needed. Marietta 
became a mother, and when her son was born she 
felt by the boundless pride that filled her heart, 
that she had given birth to a god. 

" In the mean time the other gods of her own 
country and of the adjoining countries had been 
warned by their prophetesses that this child, born 
of a virgin and a flower, would one day drive 
them out of heaven ; they assembled, fully armed 
and determined that mother and child must both 
die so as to prevent the threatened catastrophe. 

" At the moment when they were holding their 
secret councils. Marietta appeared in their midst 
holding her infant in her arms, and all these gods, 
who had until now wielded such absolute power, 
fled in dismay to the far North, and the icy gates 
of the North Pole closed behind them." 

This is the story of Marietta and her child Jesus. 

It would certainly seem as if this naive account, 
well known among the ancient legends of Finland, 
was nothing less than a slight sketch of that great 
epic poem w^hich we have laid before our readers. 



We have only filled out the details by the aid of 
similar documents. 

Henceforth Christianity enjoyed the results of 
that great day at Argentoratum. At a later period 
the conquered gods, it is true, showed once more 
signs of resistance on isolated points, but from the 
first, this triumph of Mary and Jesus, and perhaps 
also the victories obtained by King Clovis, changed 
the first dawn of Christianity in Germany into a 
kind of purifying conflagration, which spread rap- 
idly from the Rhine to the Weser and from the 
Weser to the Danube. 

Curious circumstances sometimes came to its 
assistance. Thus, many Teutons had been taught 
by their Druid teachers to acknowledge but one 
single God, and this primitive doctrine naturally 
reconciled them to the new creed. But, more than 
that, the particular god whom they thus acknowl- 
edged, was called Esus, almost Jesus ! Others had 
followed the example of the Slaves and worshipped 
the handle of their swords, which bore the form of 
a cross ; they naturally recognized in the Christian 
cross a familiar emblem of protection and safety. 
Even baptism was in no way distasteful to the fol- 
lowers of Odin. They readily adopted it in mem- 
ory of the regular and regenerative ablutions with 
water which their ancient creed prescribed. Odin 
had said to them in the Runic chapter of the 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



249 



Edda : "If I wish a man never to perish in com- 
bat, / sprinkle him with water soon after his 
birthr 

Finally, this just man, put to death by wicked 
men, this risen Christ, reminded them forcibly of 
their own god Balder. Evidently the predicted time 
had come. Balder, the ancient prisoner of Nifl- 
heim, was about to renew the world ; in his new 
shape, the Bright God was no longer the son of 
Frigg ; he was now Mary's son and his name was 
Jesus. 

This disposition, however, although plainly shown 
in many parts of Germany, was by no means 
unanimous. 

At the table of King Clovis, the bishops, and 
Saint Reni himself, were compelled to sit by the 
side of Scandinavian Druids. When they intoned 
their Benedicite, the latter never failed to pour out 
their libations in honor of Asa-Thor and. Asa-Freyr. 
In spite of all the heroic and indefatigable efforts of 
the priests, polytheism survived even among the new 
converts, who would w^alk devoutly in the proces- 
sions of Christian worship, while they carried their 
idols and their fetishes under their arms, and who 
never failed to make the sign of the cross when 
they passed a tree or a spring that had been held 
sacred by their forefathers. What could be done to 
make them sincere and orthodox Christians.^ 



250 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



Liberty, in the sense in which we understand it 
now, and have good reason to understand it, would 
have appeared to a Teuton or a Slave as a beauti- 
ful woman, with a wooden yoke around her neck 
and all her limbs in chains. Germany had her 
laws, as well as every other Northern country her 
written or unwritten laws, but the dignity of a free- 
born man consisted mainly in disregarding these 
laws. The free man left his country, to engage in 
war wherever he chose, and his family, to live in 
any country he might prefer. It was the same 
thing with religious matters ; he reserved to himself 
his independent judgment, the right to worship as 
he chose and the privilege of combining such ar- 
ticles of creed as pleased him. 

This curious freedom of religion, this curious 
amalgamation of creeds, produced the strange re- 
sult, that the neophytes especially remained half 
pagan and half Christian, and preferred generally 
to " ride on the fence " between the two creeds. 

In the Nibelungen Lied, which we look upon as 
nothing more than a great epic poem of the Scan- 
dinavians, pagan at first but Christianized at a later 
period, men are represented as going devoutly to 
church after having consulted the Nix of the river 
as to their future fate. This is, no doubt, a true 
picture of the Germany of the early Christian 
days. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



251 



Some looked upon baptism, with its magnificent 
and pompous ceremonies, as a pleasure ; others 
submitted to it for a consideration. Ozanam, who 
is exceedingly well informed about everything that 
refers to this curious period of transition in point 
of religion, tells the following anecdote : — 

" One day there was a crowd of candidates for 
baptism ; each one of them was, as usual, dressed 
in white, as emblematic of purity. This symbolic 
dress, made of a suitable material, was a present 
from the Church to the neophyte, which he had 
carefully to preserve as an 
evidence of his conversion. 
Now, on that day, all the 
available robes had been 
given away, when one more 
candidate for baptism pre- 
sented himself ; the priest 
found at last a robe of 
light color, but unfortu- 
nately in wretched condi- 
tion. 

" What do you mean ? " 
exclaimed the neophyte, an- 
grily drawing back; "have I not a right to claim 
a white robe as well as the others, and one of 
fine wool.^" and looking furiously at the priest he 
added : " Do you think I am a man to be taken 




252 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

in ? This is the twentieth time that I am baptized, 
and I have never been offered such rags before ! " 

The naive candor of this good Teuton could 
make me almost believe that he misunderstood the 
nature of the ceremony altogether, and looked upon 
it only as a gratuitous distribution of wearing ap- 
parel. 

Other more painful mistakes w^ere made when 
the Christian missionaries, crossing rivers and seas 
at the risk of their lives, went to the uttermost 
confines of Germany, and there encountered half 
savage nations who w^ere still worshipping the 
Scandinavian gods. 

The patient zeal, the gentleness, and the eloquence 
of these holy men, succeeded finally in overcoming 
the convictions of these barbarians, and in intro- 
ducing among them not only the Gospel, but also 
the worship of saints. The people received bap- 
tism, and not only welcomed the saints with great 
eagerness and enthusiasm, but in their desire to do 
them all the honor in their power, they hastened 
to turn every one of them into a god ! They 
erected altars to these new gods, and on these 
altars they offered them human sacrifices. 

These same missionaries had been instructed to 
prohibit the use of horseflesh among the new con- 
verts ; but they found it very difficult to overcome 
a custom which at that time was very general. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



253 



We can hardly, at the present day, understand the 
importance which the Church attached to this ab- 
stinence, since now-a-days the best of people are 
perfectly willing to allow their horses to be taken 
from their stables for the purpose of being served 
up at table ! 




The most serious difificulty in all such critical 
periods is this, that while the true and faithful 
clergymen by their prodigious labors and admirable 
self-devotion succeeded in converting and disciplin- 
ing great multitudes, false priests appeared among 
them, taking forcible possession of parishes and 
bishoprics, often without waiting till they became 
vacant. Pepin of Heristal and Charles Martel, his 
son, had just compelled the pagan Saxons to take 
refuge behind the Weser. When the war was over 
and they proceeded to dismiss the commanders of 



254 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



this numerous army till the beginning of another 
campaign, as was the custom in those days, the 
majority among them claimed, as a reward for ser- 
vices rendered, the right to exchange the sword for 
the crozier and the helmet for the mitre. They 
evidently thought that the profession was an easy 
one to practice and rich in rewards. 

Pepin and Charles resisted, but they had to give 
way. 

To the great disgust of the newly converted 
populations and to the great injury of the holy 
cause, which they professed to have served, these 
warrior-priests brought with them into the Church 
the manners of the camp and the fortress. They 
surrounded themselves with squires, falconers, and 
riding-masters, with horses and hounds ; they 
haw^ked, they hunted, they lived high, giving them- 
selves up to all kinds of excesses, and drawing the 
sword against any one w^ho should venture to re- 
proach them. 

When w^ar began once more, they almost all re- 
turned to arms, without, on that account renoun- 
cing their ecclesiastic duties. Ceroid, Bishop of 
Mayence, perished in a battle against the Saxons ; 
his son succeeded him on the episcopal throne, and 
had hardly been consecrated when he proceeded to 
avenge his father. He rushes into battle, challenges 
Gerold's murderer, kills him, and quietly returns to 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



255 



Mayence for the purpose of officiating there at Mass 
and of returning thanks to God for his success. 

Such acts of violence and such worldly enjoy- 
ments were incomprehensible to the faithful ; grad- 
ually the Church of the Apostles began to fear the 
Church of the Soldiers. The Saxons, having vastly 
increased their numbers by an alliance with the 
Scythians and Scandinavians, appeared once more 
in the field. 

" But," exclaims the reader, whom I fancy I hear 
at this distance, " but this is history, church history 
moreover, and you told us you would tell us all 
about gods ! " 

I confess I did, sir ; and that is the reason 
why I have traced out, on this historical ground, 
the narrowest and shortest possible path, on which 
I can safely return to my own domain. 

" Well, then, let us return, my good friend." 
I beg your pardon, sir, but before we return, 
allow me at least to glorify three men, who were 
called upon at that time to save Christianity, and 
with it civilization, by the pen, the w^ord, and the 
sword. These equally great and equally heroic men 
are now three of our saints. 

" Saints again ! " 

Yes, sir, the first is Pope Gregory, the second 
Saint Boniface the missionary, and the third the 
Emperor Charlemagne. Do not be afraid; I shall 



256 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

do no more than mention them, for fear of going 
again out of my way and of speaking of forbidden 
subjects, against which you have warned me. Al- 
low me, however, to add that if the struggle which 
the great Emperor undertook, was a long and ter- 
tible one, it was also glorious far beyond all. Was 
it not marvelous, I ask you, to see this nation of 
Franks, which but just now consisted of a mixture 
of barbarians, go forth under the command of their 
young king, to become the protector of Rome, of 
civilization, and of Christianity "t The mace had be- 
come a shield, the siege-ram a wall and a rampart. 
" Of course ! Everybody knows that ! " 
But, did you know this, sir : When the Saxons, 
conquered for the tenth time, had received baptism, 
together with their king Witikind, when the Rhine, 
also baptized, had become a French river and a 
Christian river, when the whole of Germany bowed 
low before the cross, one of the nations of that 
country, the Borussians (Pruszi, or Prussians), re- 
fused to give up their old gods, and continued to 
refuse for several centuries to come.^ And yet it 
was so. The proscribed gods, finding a refuge on 
the banks of the Oder and the Spree, paid frequent 
visits, as was quite natural, to their former fol- 
lowers. It was thus that the old pagan creed was 
long preserved in the remote regions of Germany. 
You see, sir, I have returned to my subject. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 257 

Let US rapidly conclude this first part of our 
task, so as to reach at last the modern gods, who 
were as popular as the others, and in their way 
neither less strange nor less curious. 

During the time of the Middle Ages, Germany 
had been filling up with towns and castles, feudal 
dungeons bearing aloft a helmet and a cross. The 
cross arose wherever two streets met in a city and 
at every cross-road in the country; the most beauti- 
ful cathedrals in the world and the most mao^nifi- 
cent monasteries were reflected in her broad river ; 
and still, in field and forest, in city and country, 
and along the banks of the Rhine, the false gods 
were worshipped in secret. 

As the church taught that they were to be looked 
upon as demons, the people dared not treat them 
badly. Demons are not guests to be turned out 
rudely. 

" From the eighth century of our Christian era," 
says one of our erudite authorities, " the Saxons 
and Sarmatians heard the Christian missionaries 
speak so continually of the formidable power of 
Satan, that they thought it best to worship him 
secretly in order to disarm his wrath and perhaps 
to win his favor. They called him the Black God 
or Tybilinus ; the Germans call him, even now, 
Dibel or TeufeC 

This Black God now became for all the German 
17 



258 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



nations the army leader of their proscribed gods, an 
army which was presently to be largely increased. 

The princes and knights, followed by their vas- 
sals, departed in large numbers, on the Crusades, 
but they brought back from the Crusades, together 
with holy relics, traditions of Gnomes, Peris, and 
Undines. 

The Rhine, disgusted at the loss of his royal 
dignity, and determined to take his vengeance on 
the warrior-bishops, received these last arrivals as 
he had those who came before. In his healing 
waters the Undines mingled with the Tritons and 



c^^;^^^^^\. 







the Naiads ; the Gnomes found shelter under the 
rocks, where they were hospitably received by the 
Dwarfs, and in the evening twilight the Nymphs, 
the Elves, and the Dryads danced once more mer- 
rily in company with Sylphs, Fairies, and Peris. 

No doubt Christian Germany looked afterwards 
at all this more in the light of food for the imagi- 
nation than of trouble for the conscience, but in 
that happy land, where people believe and dream 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



259 



at the same time, and where the words of the poet 
are as true as the Gospel, the imagination easily 
gets the better of conscience. Thus the search 
after the little blue flower led many a learned man 
astray, far off into half satanic paths. Besides, it 




" HAVE TRANSFERRED THEIR OLYMPUS TO THE BROCKEN." 

lies in the nature of the German mind, which has 
always a tendency towards idealism, its magnetic 
pole, to oppose to the orthodox religion another 
more secret and more mysterious creed. 

This was the case already in the fourteenth and 



26o MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



fifteenth century ; it is the case still in this, the 
nineteenth century, especially among the country 
people, who have passed through the age of witch- 
craft in which the Black God ruled supreme, and, 
completely modifying their pagan notions, have 
transferred their Olympus to the Brocken, the 
mountain of the Witches' Sabbath. 

Let us now see what the dwellers on the banks 
of the Rhine have done with all their old gods 
and demi-gods of every denomination. 



Mil 'i'imz'^'j^^mi' 







XL 



Elementary Spirits of Air, Fire, and Water. — Sylphs, their 
Ainuse?nents and Domestic Arrangements. — Little Queen Mab. 
— Will-o'-the-wisps. — White Elves and Black Elves. — Tnie 
Causes of Natural Somnainbulism. — The Wind''s BetrotJied. — 
Fire-da7np. — Master Haeinmerling. — The Last of the Gnomes. 

The reader is requested to recall what I have 
said before, that in Germany manners, customs, and 
creeds, matters of prejudice as well as matters of 
art, and even of science, may have a begmning, 



264 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

but never have an end. In that ancient home of 
mysticism and of philosophy, everything is perma- 
nently rooted, everything is made for eternity, like 
those old oak trees of the Hercynia of antiquity : 
when the parent tree is cut down, and has no long- 
er a trunk to bear boughs and branches, it sends 
forth new shoots from the roots. Druidism also has 
become permanent there. We have seen it fight 
against the gods of the Romans ; it fought in like 
manner against Christianity under Witikind; it was 
kept alive, though in concealment, by the first icon- 
oclasts or image breakers, and when that whole vast 
country was at last conquered and became wholly 
devoted to Catholicism, it broke forth once more 
quite unexpectedly in the first days of the Refor- 
mation. Luther was a Druid still. 

Thanks to this tenacity of life which character- 
izes creeds, and thanks to the prolific nature of 
that soil, whatever seems to have disappeared, rises 
again, under new forms, and whatever has perished 
is recalled to life in some way or other. Let us 
prove this. 

Among all those gods which we have mentioned 
before, none surely would seem to have been more 
readily forgotten, swept away by the wind, which 
they claimed to render useless, or buried in the 
dust with which they seemed to compete, than 
those tiny, microscopic deities, called Monads. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE, 265 



And yet this was by no means the case. Did 
they not, in fact, represent the elementary spirits ? 
And the worship of the elements continued in spite 
of all other creeds which tried to suppress it for- 
ever. 

Only these atomic deities, still quite small, ex- 
ceedingly small, had increased in the most aston- 
ishing manner, when compared with their original 
diminutiveness. They had even assumed a form 
and a body, a visible body and a shape by no 
means void of grace. 

They had become Alps or Alfs, better known 
afterwards under their Eastern designation of 
Sylphs. 

It happened occasionally that a belated traveller, 
a peasant or a charcoal burner, returning homeward 
from a wedding towards the beginning of night, 
would be fortunate enough to meet at a clearing 
in the woods or on the banks of a brook with a 
band of little goblins, who were making merry in 
the dim twilight. 

These were Sylphs, a little people flying in 
swarms through the air, making their nest in a 
flower or building one with a few bits of grass at 
the foot of a broom-sedge, and going out only in 
the evening to pay visits and as good neighbors 
to perform their social duties. 

If the traveller, the peasant, or the charcoal bur- 



266 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



ner had walked softly on the fine sand of the brook 
or on a grass-grown path on which his steps could 
not be heard, and if he had then stopped in time 




so as to be able to see without being seen, he 
might witness their gambols and ascertain the se- 
crets of their private life, without running any 
risk. 

Have you, dear reader, have you heard Mercutio, 
in Shakespeare's " Romeo and Juliet," relate how 
Queen Mab came, and say : — 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 267 



" Oh, then, I see, Queen Mab hath been with you 

Her wagon spokes made of long spinners' legs, 
The cover of the wings of grasshoppers, 
The traces of the smallest spider's web, 
The collars of the moonshine's watery beams. 
Her whip of cricket's bone, the lash of film, 
Her wagoner, a small, gray-coated gnat ! " 

Well, the peasant, the traveller, or the charcoal 
burner, enjoyed a sight which was by no means 
less curious. 

Some of his Sylphs, suspending a thread of gos- 
samer from one blade of grass to another, made 
a delightful swing for their amusement, or took a 
spider's web to supply them with a hammock. 
Others danced wildly about in the air, beating their 
tiny wings with harmonious accuracy and furnish- 
ing thus an orchestra for the aerial ball. 

Not far from them some little sylph ladies, no 
doubt excellent housekeepers, were washing their 
linen in the beams of the moon, or preparing a 
feast. 

The provisions consisted of a mixture of honey 
with the nectar of flowers, a few drops of milk 
which the hanging udders of young heifers had left 
on the high grass, and a few pearls of that precious 
dew which aromatic plants secrete ; this mixture 
was used as a seasoning for some butterfly-eggs 
beaten up white as snow. 

If during the repast darkness fell upon them and 



268 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

suddenly covered the guests with its sombre cloak, 
other hobgoblins, the Will-o'-the-Wisps, with wings 
of fire, came and took seats at the hospitable 
table, paying for their entertainment by diffusing 
a pleasant light all over the place. 

The principal occupation of these elves consisted 
in walkinor before the wanderer who had lost his 
way so as to lead him back again into the right 
path. 

Such were some of the harmless spirits of Air 
and Fire. Everything has, however, been changed 
in these two elements. The Will-o'-the-Wisps es- 
pecially, angry at the reports of wicked people, 
that they are nothing more than the products of 
burning hydrogen, or at best phosphorus in a vol- 
atile form floating above damp places, have con- 
ceived a veritable hatred against men and now 
only appear when they wish to tempt travellers 
into marshes and deep ravines. 

As to the Sylphs, they also seem to have heard 
similar stories which have been told about them, 
or they may have been irritated by the chemist 
Liebig, who in his " Treatise on the Composition 
of the Air," absolutely denies their existence, having 
found in his apparatus neither Sylphs nor Sylph- 
ides. 

They have changed into faithless Elves, hostile 
to men, like the other Gnomes. 










DANCE OF THE WHITE FAIRIES. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



271 



The Fairies of our day are divided into two for- 
midable classes. 

The White Fairies are damsels who wander about 
on meadows and in woods, like the Willis of the 
Slaves, and lie in wait for inexperienced young 
men, whom they persuade to join in their dances 
and keep dancing, till they lose their breath and 
generally fall to the ground never to rise again. 
German stories are full of such wicked tricks. 
The place where they perform their diabolic 
dances, becomes quite silvery under their feet. 
The shepherds can thus at once recognize the 
place where they have been, and are sure to hasten 
away at once with their flocks. 




The Black Fairies personify Nightmare and Som- 
nambulism, but only Natural Somnambulism, it must 
be borne in mind. 



272 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



When men fall into this state, the Black Elf 
directs all the motions of the sleeper ; he lives in 
him, thinks and acts for him, makes him get 
upon the furniture and climb upon roofs, and keeps 

him from falling, unless Poor sleeper, be 

careful ! The Black 
Fairies are treacherous 
and cruel ; the Fairy 
who controls you for 
the moment may at 
any moment take a 
fancy to throw you 
from your height. 

The Alfs, who have 
thus become Elves or 
Fairies, are of course 
not the only Spirits of 
the Air ; their fragile 
and delicate structure 
w^ould never have al- 
lowed them breath enough to swell the sails of a 
vessel or to chase the clouds from one end of 
the heavens to another. 

Among the Celts all magicians had been able to 
command the winds and the tempests at will ; even 
now certain men in Norway and in Lapland will 
sell you, for a small price, the wind you desire to 
carry you home. 




MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 273 

In Germany, on the contrary, the wind was 
looked upon as an elementary power. It was not 
deified, as in Rome, where there was a whole windy 
family of gods, like Eurus, ^^olus, Boreas, and Fa- 
vonius, but it was an important personage, with a 
will of his own and independent action. The 
poets did their part to give im-portance to Master 
Wind. 

I have in my hand a ballad, which will enable 
the reader to judge for himself : — 

" Gretchen, the pretty miller s daughter, was 
courted by the son of the king. Her father, the 
miller, knowing that kings' sons are not apt to 
marry, had chosen her a husband, a young flour 
merchant from Rotterdam. 

" The Dutchman was on his way up the Rhine ; 
that very evening he was expected to arrive, to 
make his proposals. 

" Gretchen called upon Master Wind to help 
her ; he came in by the window, but not without 
breaking a number of panes. 

" ' What do you wish me to do } ' 

" ' A man wants to marry me, against my will ; 
he is coming in a sail boat ; contrive it so that he 
cannot land at Bingen.' 

" The wind blew, and blew so well that the boat, 
instead of coming up to Bingen, was driven back 
again as far as Rotterdam. 



2 74 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



" At Rotterdam also it could not make land ; 
it was driven into the North Sea, and there the 
Dutchman is perhaps still sailing about at this 
day. 

" But Master Wind had made his conditions be- 
fore he went to work blowing so well ; and the 
pretty miller's daughter had agreed to them without 
hearing them, for all around her the furniture, the 
doors, and the blinds were shaking and rattling 
furiously, thanks to her visitor. Thus it came 
about that poor Gretchen found herself betrothed 
to Master Wind, which made her very sad, for 
now she had less hope than ever of marrying the 
king's son. 

" However, Master Wind was as gallant towards 
his fair betrothed as he could be. Every morning, 
when she opened her window, he would throw her 
in beautiful bouquets of flowers which he had torn 
off in the neighboring gardens. 

" If any young man of the village, whom she 
had rejected, passed without saluting her, Master 
Wind was promptly at hand to carry off his hat 
and send it up in the air so high, that soon it 
looked no bigger than a lark. It was well for him 
that Master Wind did not, with the hat, take his 
head off at the same time. 

" One day (when Master Wind must have been 
asleep), the king's son came to the mill, made his 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 275 

way without difficulty to Gretchen's chamber, and 
forthwith desired to kiss her. Gretchen did not 
object. But at once, and although out of doors all 
was quiet, the tables and chairs performed a wild 
dance, and the doors and- windows began to slam 
as if they had been mad. 

" Gretchen herself began to twirl around and 
around in the most unaccountable manner; her hair 
was loosened by an invisible hand and whisked 
about her head with strange rustling and dismal 
whistling. 

" Terrified by the sight of a tempest in a close 
room, the prince cried : — 

" ' Ah ! accursed one, you are the betrothed of 
Master Wind ! ' 

" And at the same moment a terrible gust of 
wind carried off the king's son, the miller's daugh- 
ter, and the mill, and no one ever saw or heard 
anything more of them. 

" Perhaps they went to join the Dutchman, who 
was all the time sailing about in the North Sea, 
or the hat, which was still on its way in the 
clouds." 

The legend does not tell us whether it was be- 
fore or after this occurrence that Master Wind 
married Mistress Rain. 

So much for the Spirits of the Air. 

As for the Spirits of the Fire, it must be re- 



membered that the Will-o'-the-Wisps were by no 
means their only representatives. There were also 
Salamanders, too well known to be described here; 
and St. Elmo Fires, near relations of the Will-o'- 
the-Wisps. But we must pause a moment to speak 
of the formidable Fire-damp, the miner's terror. 
The remarkable feature about it is that it plays so 
insignificant a part in the popular German myths, 
although it has destroyed so many victims in all 
mountainous countries, and above all in the Hartz 
mountains. 

This subterranean lightning, far more fatal than 
that of the upper regions, is known to the people 
of the Rhine simply as a tall monk, whom they 
call Master Haemmerling. 

Master Haemmerling visits the mines from time 
to time in the guise of a harmless amateur, or of 
an inspector, who is not fond of being hurried. 
However, on Fridays especially, he is subject to 
violent attacks of anger. If a laborer handles his 
pickaxe awkwardly, or if he is insolent to his mas- 
ter, or the master harsh to him and requiring too 
much, he is, quick as a flash of lightning, between 
them when they are as yet half way under ground. 
Then he suddenly draws his long legs together, 
and between his two knees crushes their heads with 
as little hesitation and ceremony as a mother would 
show in destroying between her two thumbs the 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 277 

little hateful insect that has troubled her darling 
child. 

Nothing more need be said of the elementary 
spirits of Air and Fire; but as we have followed 
Master Haemmerling into the lower depths of the 
mountains, we might just as well remain there a 
while and make the acquaintance of the Gnomes, 
the Spirits of the Earth. 

Can you see, through the dense air which fills 
these immense caverns, the long, gigantic stalactites, 
reaching from the ceiling to the floor and strongly 
impregnated with iron ? They are the columns of 
this subterranean palace, and around these stalac- 
tites, peaceful, slumbering waters form a kind of 
little lakes, the shores of which look as if they 
were covered with rust. 

Here and there, in the damp low grounds, half 
choked with ore and slag of various kinds, 
dark reeds are growing in the shape of lizards ; 
like lizards they bend backwards, moving their 
heads from side to side and showing thus the dia- 
mond eye which shines brilliantly at the extreme 
end. 

These dark depths seem to teem with fantas- 
tic creatures ; close by a heap of grains of gold, 
stands immovable a watchful, silent guardian, a 
grififin ; a pack of black dogs, also guardians of the 
treasures hid in this world of precious metals and 



278 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

stones, are roaming incessantly along the ceiling. 
On the sloping sides, dwarfs not larger than grass- 
hoppers, and jumping about like peas in the sieve 
of the winnower, are gathering right and left the 
tiny gold and silver spangles which are left at their 
disposal, while enormous toads are posted about as 
watchmen. 

Finally, far back in the remotest part of these 
abysses the kings of this empire are moving about ; 
these thick-set men, with stout limbs and mon- 
strous heads, are the Gnomes. 

But people hardly believe in Gnomes any longer ; 
the hard-working miners who ought to come every 
day in contact with them, deny their existence, and 
they have gradually passed into the class of fabu- 
lous beings. 

Still, I am told that as recently as last year, a 
pretty peasant girl from the neighborhood of Ham- 
burg appeared on a certain evening at a ball, with 
a large ruby on her finger. She professed to have 
received this gem from an Earth Spirit, who had 
appeared to her at the entrance to the Faunus 
mines. 

The gossips of the village were not satisfied, 
however, with the account, and suspected the 
Gnome to have been an English Gnome, who 
was travelling abroad for his health and courting 
pretty girls for his amusement. This conviction 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



279 



was so strong that the poor girl had to leave the 
country in disgrace. 

This is the last Gnome that has been mentioned 
in that part of Germany. 





XII. 

Elementary Spirits of the Water. — Petrarch at Cologne. — 
Divine Judgment by Water. — Nixen and Undines. — A Fur- 
lough till Ten o'clock. — The White-footed Undine. — Mys- 
teries on the Rhine. — The Court of the Great Nichus. — Nix- 
COBT, the Messenger of the Dead. — His Funny Tricks. — I go 
in Search of an Undine. 



" After leaving Alx-la-Chapelle, I had stopped at 
Cologne, on the left bank of the Rhine, which I 
then found completely covered with several rows of 

women, a countless and charming multitude 

Adorned with flowers or aromatic herbs, the sleeves 



284 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

pushed up above the elbow, they dipped their soft 
white hands and arms into the river, murmuring 
certain mysterious words which I could not under- 
stand. 

" I questioned some people. They told me it was 
an ancient custom of the country. Thanks to these 
ablutions and certain prayers which accompanied 
them, the river carried down with it all the dis- 
eases, which would otherwise have attacked them 
during the coming year. I answered, smilingly : 
' How happy the people of the Rhine must be if 
the kind river thus takes all their sufferinQ:s to 
distant countries ! The Po or the Tiber have never 
been able to do as much for us.' " 

These are the words which Petrarch wrote in one 
of his familiar letters, written on St. John's Eve. 

This letter, as precious by its date as by its con- 
tents, proves beyond all question, that in the four- 
teenth century the Rhine was popularly worshipped 
and adored on the very days on w^iich the summer 
solstice is celebrated by bonfires after the manner 
of the old fire worshippers. 

Unfortunately the Christians ended by appealing 
to the elements, to Fire or Water, as to a judicial 
authority. 

The popular notion that the elements were per- 
fectly pure and would hence instinctively reject 
every impure substance, led naturally to ordeals 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 285 



by water. The accused was undressed ; his hands 
and feet were tied crosswise, the right hand to the 
left foot and the right foot to the left hand, and 
thus bound he was thrown into a river or any 
watercourse that was deep enough. If he floated, 
he was guilty and instantly burnt; if he sank and 
remained for some time at the bottom of the water, 
he was considered innocent — but he was drowned. 

Heinrich Heine, at least, tells us that this was 
the infallible result of justice in the Middle Ages, 
and the Middle Ages ended in Germany but yes- 
terday. 

There was also a trial by bread and cheese 
{exorcismus panis hordeacei, vel casei^ ad probationem 
vert), but bread and cheese are not elements. Let 
us return to the elementary spirits of Water. 

During the great religious reaction which took 
place after the days of Charlemagne, all the mytho- 
logical gods of rivers and streams had gradually 
returned, moie or less successfully, to their former 
occupations. The great Nix or Nichus, upon whom 
devolved the rule over all the rivers of Germany, 
was no other than the ancient Niord, a very im- 
portant deity and a kind of Northern Neptune. 
This very weighty discovery is due to the learned 
Mallet. 

No doubt this god Niord was one of those who, 
on their disastrous flight from Argentoratum, had 



286 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

fallen into the Rhine. They thought that he was 
drowned, but he had only taken refuge in one of 
the lowest, almost unfathomable depths of the river. 
From this safe retreat the great Nichus had defied 
the decrees of Councils and the anathemas of the 
Christians hurled against all elementary spirits 
alike ; there he had summoned the subaltern deities 
of sources, ponds, lakes, and smaller streams, the 
nymphs of the banks, and the hideous, scaly mon- 
sters which swarmed at the bottom of the river. 
Organizing all these into a people, an escort, and 
an army, he had come forth and invaded at the 
head of his host the banks of the Neckar and the 
Main, the Moselle and the Meuse, the great tribu- 
taries of the Rhine, and governed the inhabitants 
of the banks by terror. More than once he had 
extended his ravages far beyond the plains, over- 
throwing churches that had but just been completed, 
and drowning in his waters all the deserters from 
the altars of Odin. 

Niord was a wicked god, who had a fearful tem- 
per. He held his subjects, to whatever class they 
might belong, completely under his yoke, treating 
them capriciously and cruelly, and making of the 
Rhine a hell of waters. 

It is to this dark and damp kingdom of the 
great Nichus that we have to go in order to make 
the acquaintance, not of his great dignitaries, but 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 287 

of the very humblest and lowest of his subjects, 
the Nixen and the male and female Undines, a 
race of anathematized demons, who make up, by 
themselves, almost the whole population of this 
realm beneath the waters of the Rhine. 

What ! Must we really count our beautiful Lore, 
the charming fairy Lorelei, you who preferred death 
to the punishment of making all men fall in love 
with you, much as you loved men in general, must 
we count you among the demons, evildoing and 
accursed sprites ? No ! How public opinion has 
stoutly held its own in defiance of all the decrees 
of the Church. Nixen, like the Fairies, are by 
common consent divided into two classes : Nixen 
proper, who are former pagan deities and not too 
much to be dreaded, and female Nixen, almost 
always harmless and at times even useful. 

It is these latter only of whom we shall hereafter 
speak as Undines. 

The Nixen of the first class are ever ready to 
assume any disguise that may aid them in attain- 
ing their purpose. Some of them roam about in 
deserted places near the banks of rivers ; others 
have at times appeared in the neighboring towns, 
pretending to be foreign ladies of distinction, or 
artists, generally great performers on the harp. 
Here they have begun intrigues with credulous 
lovers or unlucky admirers. Others appear at vil- 



288 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



lage celebrations, mingling in the dance with such 
energy, that their partners are intoxicated, carried 
away, and, losing their heads, think they continue 
to hear the sound of harps and violins, while they 
are already far away, led on by imaginary music, 
and only return to consciousness on the banks of 
the river, at the moment when they are about to 
sink helpless into the waters of the Rhine. 




One important point, however, must not be over- 
looked. To protect one's self against the allure- 
ments of these accursed fairies, a bit of horehound 
or marjoram is sufficient. We hope all who pro- 
pose visiting the Rhine will be careful always to 
keep such an herb on their person. Before they 
take out their passports they ought always to pay 
a visit to an herbalist. 

The second class of Nixen, the only one in 
which we are interested, the Undines, are, as far as 
I have been able to learn, the restless souls of 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



289 



poor girls who, driven to despair by love, have 
thrown themselves into the Rhine. Unfortunately- 
German lovers, not very courageous at best, are but 
too apt to seek relief in suicide. 




THE NIX WITH THE HARP. 



According to the somewhat uncertain information 
for which I am indebted to my authorities or to 
my intercourse with the Rosahl family, the Undines 



19 



290 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

are born as human beings and very inferior in 
power to the genuine Nixen. They Hve under the 
water exactly the same time they would have lived 
on earth, if they had not voluntarily put an end 
to their existence. They are thus granted a kind 
of exceptional resurrection and have here a prelim- 
inary purgatory, in which they but too frequently 
expiate, if not the sin of their love, at least that of 
their death. 

In the lowest depths of the river, at the bottom 
of vast, submerged grottoes, a secret tribunal, pre- 
sided over by the great Nichus, holds its solemn 
meetings. Here they are disciplined with the ut- 
most severity, as is abundantly proven by a great 
number of terrible stories, such as the account of 
the three Undines of Sinzheim, which the two 
brothers Grimm report in their great work. 

Three young girls of marvelous beauty, three 
sisters, appeared every evening at the social meet- 
ings of Epfenbach, near Sinzheim and took their 
seats among the linen-spinners. They brought new 
songs and merry stories which no one had heard 
before. Where did they come from } No one 
knew, and no one dared to ask for fear of appear- 
ing suspicious. They were the delight of these 
meetings, but as soon as the clock struck ten 
they rose, and neither prayers nor supplications 
could induce them to stay a moment longer. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



291 



One evening the schoolmaster's son, who had 
fallen in love with one of them, undertook to pre- 
vent their departure at the usual hour ; he put 
back the wooden clock, which usually gave them 
warning. 

The next day some people from Sinzheim, who 
were walking by the side of the lake, heard groans 







rising from the depths of the lake, while the sur- 
face was stained by three large spots of blood. 
From that time the three sisters were never seen 
again at the evening assemblies, and the school- 



292 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

master's son faded away gradually. He died very 
soon afterwards. 

These three sisters, so gentle, so lovely and la- 
borious, had in nothing betrayed a connection with 
the spirits of the lower world. The only thing was, 
that people remembered how the hems of their 
garments had frequently been wet, a sure sign by 
which Undines can be recognized. Otherwise they 
seem to have been very much like other girls, and 
the severity of the great Nichus appears hardly 
reasonable. 

As to this hour of ten o'clock, however, mili- 
tary rules cannot be more rigorous than his. 

It must, on the other hand, not be imagined 
that all Undines are as gentle and resigned as 
these three sisters. There are some who bitterly 
resent having been abandoned by their lovers, and 
try to revenge themselves ; these seem to partake 
to some degree of the character of the Nixen, or 
rather, — why should we not say so at once and 
quite candidly t — they remain faithful to their in- 
stincts as women. 

As a proof of this statement I will quote a short 
but perfect little drama, which Miss Margaret 
Rosahl has, at my request, copied from Busching's 
voluminous collection. 

Count Herman von Filsen, whose estates lay on 
the right bank of the Rhine, between Oslerspey 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 293 

and Brauback, was about to marry the rich heir- 
ess of the castle of Rheins, on the other bank. 
His messenger had started to carry the letters 
of invitation to all the guests, but a sudden rise of 
the waters had nearly prevented his crossing a small 
stream. In trying to get over, his horse stumbled, 
and w^as drow^ned. The messenger, however, did 
not lose courage, but went on his way on foot. 
Everywhere he found the brooks swollen into 
streams, and the torrent seemed to press him more 
and more closely, describing curves and zigzags, 
with countless cataracts, barring him the way on 
all sides and making the usual path impassable. 

By the aid of a huge stick and jumping from 
rock to rock, the poor, half bewildered man kept 
on, walking well-nigh at hap-hazard, till he found 
himself near the Rhine, into which the swollen tor- 
rent, rushing after him with sudden fury, seemed 
determined to push him. 

Fortunately a small boat was lying quite near 
the shore : he loosened it, took the oars, and re- 
turned to Filsen. 

When he reached the castle he said to the 
Count : " Sir, a Nix has barred me the way." 

The Count did not believe in Nixen. He sent 
out another messenger. But the same ad\'enture 
befell him. 

The weddinsf dav had been fixed and the Count 



294 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



went on, although he feared his friends and follow- 
ers would be few in number. 

One morning, as he crossed the river from the 
right bank to the left, in order to pay a visit to 
his lady love, a sudden tempest broke out. He 
thought he saw a pale form arise from the waters, 
bending over the bow of the boat and trying to 




draw it down into the abyss beneath the waters. 
Thereupon he became thoughtful, sent for his 
steward, and ordered him to find out what had be- 
come of a certain girl of the neighborhood, Gott- 
friede from Braubach. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



295 



" I met her a few days ago," replied the steward, 
" as she was going to St. Mark's Chapel, and I 
offered her holy water. Gottfriede asked me about 
your approaching wedding. She w^as very well, and 
seemed to be in good spirits." 

" Go and see if you can find her," said the 
Count, " and bring me word." 

During the wedding feast Hermann von Filsen 
appeared joyous and attentive to his bride, the new 
Countess, but the effort to appear so caused his 
perspiration to break out profusely, especially w^hen 




all of a sudden a small woman's foot, white and 
delicate, appeared to his eyes, and to his only, on 
the ceiling of the dinner-hall. 

He felt a chill in all his limbs. He rose sud- 



296 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

denly and fled to another room, followed by his 
wife, his mother, and all the guests, who thought 
he had been seized with sudden illness. 

In this room he saw, and he alone again saw, a 
white hand raise a curtain and with the forefinger 
beckon him to follow. 

Long time ago Hermann had heard, without 
paying any attention at that time to the statement, 
that such a small white foot and a small white 
hand indicated the presence of an Undine and the 
coming of an inevitable calamity. 

Now he believed it. 

The bishop, who had performed the marriage 
ceremony, was at the dinner. Hermann went 
straight up to him, knelt down, and confessed 
aloud, and with many tears, that a young girl 
named Gottfriede, fairer and better than all her sis- 
ters, had loved him dearly, and that he had returned 
her love and then abandoned her. Gottfriede had 
sought oblivion of her sufferings in the river, and 
now was bent upon revenge. 

" Bless me, father, for I am going to die ! " 

The bishop, before uttering the words of absolu- 
tion, demanded first that the Count should abjure 
his impious faith in such supernatural beings, of 
whom the Church knew nothing. 

" How can I refuse to believe what I see '^. There 
she is ! Looking as pale as she was this morning 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



297 



at the bow of the boat. Her hair, full of green 
grass, is hanging in disorder all over her shoulders ; 
she looks at me with a tearful smile." 

" Nothing but visions ! " replies the bishop. 
" Your eyes deceive you." 

" But it is not only by the eye that I am aware 
of her presence, I hear her voice ; she is calling 
me ? Forgive me, Gottfriede ! " 

" You are out of your mind ! These are the devil's 
snares ! And who tells you that the girl has ceased 
to live ? That she has committed a crime } Thanks 
be to God, Gottfriede came to me, she confessed 
to me penitently, and now she is in a convent ! " 

At this moment the assembly, already deeply ex- 
cited, was somewhat startled 
by the entrance of the stew- 
ard, who looked terrified, went 
up to the Count's mother, and 
whispered some words into 
her ear. She could not re- 
press a cry. 

" Dead ! " she said. 

" Yes, she is dead, and I _^ 

also must die ! " cried Her- 
mann in accents of despair. 

The young bride, offended at this avowal of a 
previous attachment, had at first stood aloof; now, 
consulting her own heart alone, she thouoht of con- 




298 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

testing the right of this invisible rival, and with 
open arms drew near the Count ; but he pushed 
her aside rudely. 

The bishop began his exorcisms. While he was 
repeating the prescribed words, the Count asked : — 

" What do you want of me, Gottfriede ? Forgive 
me and we will all pray for you. You are weep- 
ing and kissing me by turns, but your kisses are 
nothing but bitterness and sorrow to me, since I 
have given my name to another, since another is 
my — 

He could not complete the sentence. Uttering 
a sharp cry he fell at full length to the ground, 
and on his neck appeared a long, bluish mark, such 
as is seen in strangled persons. 

The great Nichus is, as we have seen, the mas- 
ter, the despot, the Wassermann, par excellence, of 
all this watery, dark world, peopled by Nixen and 
Undines. His authority is, moreover, by no means 
limited to the exercise of judicial functions ; his 
will, constantly under the influence of an ill-regu- 
lated appetite, is law for everybody ; the male 
Nixen are his Court, and his harem is kept full 
by the fairest among those women who become his 
own by suicide. This greenish-complexioned Sar- 
danapalus is said to celebrate incredibly monstrous 
orgies with his drowned Odalisques. 

He is, in reality, Niord, the Scandinavian god, 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



299 




and this Niord again is, originally, one of those 

old Roman emperors, 

who were deified, and 

whose portraits Pe- 

tronius has left us 

drawn in mud and 

blood. 

His principal agent, 
and the Jack-of-all- 
trades of the whole 
community, Nixcobt, 
the messenger of the 

dead, has to maintain communication between the 
people who live on the river, and those who live 
in it. He is perhaps the most eccentric of all the 
mythical personages of the Rhine. 

When morning is about to dawn and the moun- 
tain tops are beginning to glow in a faint subdued 
light, a kind of low, thickset man of the most hid- 
eous appearance, may occasionally be seen gliding 
along the houses of a town, keeping carefully in the 
shade, or slipping down the hill-side between the 
long rows of grapes, which are almost as high as 
he is. His terrible head turns upon his slender 
neck as upon a pivot, and thus he can see and 
examine everything without stopping for a moment. 
His bare shoulders, his elbows, knees, and cheek- 
bones are covered with scales ; small pins appear 



300 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



at intervals at his ankles ; his round glamous eyes 
have a bright red point in the centre ; his teeth 
and hair are green, and his enormous mouth, split 
wide open and shaped like the mouth of a fish, 







wears a fixed smile, which strikes terror in the be- 
holder. This creature is Nixcobt. 

With daybreak he is back in the river to inquire 
if its mournful population has been added to over 
night by some victim, suicide or not. He takes 
down a description of each one, draws up a report, 
inquires as to what induced them to seek refuge 
in the new world, and offers them his services for 
the purpose of letting the friends and parents know, 



whom they may have left behind, ignorant of their 
fate and inconsolable at their loss. 

Then he amuses the great Nichus with all his 
stories and all the clever tricks he has been playing 
during his nocturnal visits to the people in the vil- 
lages and towns on the river. 

These merry tricks of Master Nixcobt form even 
in our day an ever welcome staple of amusement 
to the young spinners during the long winter nights, 
accompanied as they are by the cheerful hum of the 
swiftly turning wheels. 

One day Nixcobt calls upon the tax collector of 
a little town on the Rhine, whom he finds in great 
consternation. His wife has left his house and he 
does not know what has become of her. To con- 
sole him Nixcobt tells him that she is dead, having 
drowned herself, and as a proof of it, he shows him 
a letter which he has with his own hands taken 
from the pockets of the deceased. 

The husband, whose tears had been flowing 
freely, dries them quickly, becomes furious, and 
looks at his children with fierce Hances. He is 
jealous of their dead mother. Nixcobt laughs and 
goes to some one else. 

That some one else, an honest vintner of the 
Rheingau, has the night before killed his friend 
in an excess of passion and then thrown the body 
into the Rhine, together with the knife with which 



;02 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



\f^ 



^^- 



he had committed the 
murder. This knife Nix- 
cobt now presents to him, 
for he takes dehght in 
restoring lost objects of 
this kind. 

While the murderer 
stands petrified at the 
sight of the still bloody 
knife, the Gnome hastens 
to the Mayor to report 
to him the whole mat- 
ter. 

An inquiry is held, the 
vintner is found, holdinsf 
the bloody knife in his 
hand, he is hanged and 
Nixcobt laughs heartily. 

One night a notary 
of Badenheim, near May- 
ence, hears in his sleep 
a voice saying : — 

" John Harnisch, the 
great Nichus is courting 
your wife, who has been 
changed into an Undine 
-S^C^V-^^^^/i^ three months a2:o ; she 
will not listen to him, and 










MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 303 

he wants you to tell him how he must manage to 
please her." 

The notary thought it was a bad dream, uttered 
a sish as he thouoht of his deceased wife, and fell 
asleep once more. But a chilly hand resting upon 
his breast waked him once more, and the voice 
said : — 

" John Harnisch, speak, speak promptly and be 
sincere, or you shall never sleep again." 

John Harnisch resisted for some time longer, 
but a red flame dimly lighted up his alcove and he 
saw a row of green teeth and scaly cheek bones. 
Thoroughly frightened, he said what he could. 

" Thanks ! " cries Nixcobt, and breaks out into a 
far sounding laugh. 

We might fill folios with all the lugubrious jokes 
of this messenger of the dead, but we will abstain. 
Besides, Nixcobt has lost all respect now-a-days. 
He is no longer seen gliding along the houses in 
towns or slipping through the rows in the vine- 
yards. 

We might in like manner tell a vast number of 
interesting stories and quote endless Lieder and 
ballads, which treat of Nixen and Undines. For 
there are, besides, Undines of rivers and Undines 
of lakes, and there are even some in the ocean ; in 
Germany all watercourses, down to the tiniest rills, 
have their Undines. 



304 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

Only day before yesterday I was walking on the 
banks of the Rhine ; only yesterday on those of the 
Moselle, This morning, wandering about at hap- 
hazard I encountered a brook, a mere rill, which 
attracted me by its sweet murmurs. I followed it, 
followed it for two hours. I happened to have 
nothing else to do. 

My tiny rill, a mere infant so near its source, 
was turning and twisting in the thick grass and 
seemed to try and walk on all fours as little chil- 
dren do. Farther down it had become a little girl, 
having increased in size and bulk ; it now^ wandered 
hither and thither, carelessly, capriciously, leaping 
merrily over the rocks and carrying off here a 
flower and there a flower that grew on its banks, 
no doubt for the purpose of making a bouquet. 
Still farther on, I witnessed its marriage with a big 
brook that had come down all the way from the 
mountains ; it was a young woman now, a wife, 
and walked soberly through the plain, like a pru- 
dent stream, bearing already boats on its surface 
and preparing to join an elder sister, the Moselle. 
Soon I had to cross it on a bridge ; on this same 
bridge four Prussian soldiers were busy w^atching 
the water as it flowed by, no doubt in the hope of 
catching a fair Undine as she was stealthily slip- 
ping down the river. As for myself, I had in vain 
traced the unknown little river from its birth all 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



305 



along its banks, under the thick shelter of willows 
and alder bushes ; neither day before yesterday on 
the Rhine, nor yesterday on the Moselle, nor to- 
day, did I ever find a trace of a Nymph, a Nix, or 
an Undine ! 

What must be my conclusion ? 

A thief who had been brought before a police 
court and was there confronted with two persons 
who had seen him steal, said : — 

" These men claim that they have seen me, but 
I, I could bring twenty other witnesses who would 
swear that they have not seen me ! " 

" What does that prove ? " asked the judge of the 
court. 

I saw nothing. " What does that prove } " as the 
wise judge said to the thief. 





XIII. 

Familiar Spirits. — Butzemann. — The Good Fran Holle. — Ko- 
BOLDS. — A Kobold in the Cook's E?npioy. — Zotterais and the 
Little White Ladies. — The Killecroffs, the DeviVs Children. 
— White Angels. — Granted Wishes, a Fable. 



France, which is skeptic to the core, has no idea 
of the importance of certain visible or invisible 
spirits, who eagerly seek the society of man, sleep- 



3IO MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

ing under his roof, or in certain cases becoming 
members of his family, in the strictest sense of the 
word. Besides, they render efficient services to a 
good housekeeper ; they may do great harm if 
they are made angry, and they give at times most 
useful advice. 

These hobgoblins, little known outside of Ger- 
many and England, frequent also the French prov- 
inces watered by the Meuse, the Moselle, and the 
Rhine, and are sometimes brought to Paris by 
cooks from Alsace and coachmen from Lorraine. 

Let us rapidly glance, not at all, but at some of 
the best authenticated among these familiar spirits. 

Evening has come, the night is dark, and mas- 
ter and mistress are fast asleep. A servant with a 
candle in her hand and gaping to her heart's con- 
tent, goes once more over the house, looking in all 
the corners and out of the way places and putting 
everything in order. All of a sudden a door is 
swiftly opened and closed again right in her face 
and her light is blown out. You will say a win- 
dow has been left open and the draught has done 
all this. 

By no means ! It is the Butzemann. 

Some merry companions are assembled in the 
large dining-room of the hotel and celebrate there 
a feast of grapes in memory of the divine Diony- 
sius. The night advances and there they are still. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 3 I I 

glass in hand, singing, drinking Silence ! all 

of a sudden singing and drinking comes to an end ; 
the glasses halt half way in the midst of a toast ; 
the heavy eyes open wide, the trembling knees 
grow strong once more. Every one of the guests 
hastens home. Three times a hairy, ill-shapen crea- 
ture has come and knocked with its wings against 
the window. You will say it was a bat. 

By no means ! It is the Butzemann ! 

The family is gathering around the warm porce- 
lain stove, where they can safely defy cold winter. 
The men are smoking, a pot of beer by their side ; 
the women are knitting and talking of the ap- 
proaching wedding of the eldest daughter. Oh 
misery ! Away back in the fireplace, a great noise 
is heard ; a bright light shines. Coals and sparks 
are scattered all around, and some have fallen upon 
the dress of the betrothed. What is the matter ? 
You will say again, it was a knot in the wood, per- 
haps a chestnut that had been overlooked in the 
ashes and has burst now. 

By no means ! it is the Butzemann ! 

The Butzemann, a prophetic family spirit, warns 
you of coming danger and bids you prepare for 
an approaching misfortune. Never undertake a 
journey, never get married if a clear sign has made 
you aware that Butzemann has put his veto upon 
your journey or your marriage. The only difficulty 



312 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

you will have is to distinguish between Butzemann 
and a puff of wind, a bat, or an exploding chest- 
nut. 

It is much easier to recognize Frau Ho lie, as 
her presence is always announced by unmistakable 
indications. She has assumed the task of overlook- 
ing the poor country girls at their work. But it 
has never been found out why this benevolent fairy 
of work-people does not live in some great indus- 
trial city, or some beautiful country district, where 
the signs of active life are abundant and the whirring 
of wheels or the stamping of machinery is heard ; 
where the spinners sing, and the washerwomen beat 
time at the limpid stream. She prefers, with unac- 
countable perverseness, to live in dismal swamps, 
beside faithless Will-o'-the-Wisps and low Nixen ! 

No one has ever dared examine this question so 
closely as to ascertain the precise truth. 

Some have dropped timid hints that Frau Holle, 
now occupying a very humble position and rated 
among the familiar spirits only, was once upon a 
time a high and mighty personage, but they have 
had nothing more to say of her past glory, as is the 
case with poor ladies who have been " unfortunate." 

Others, with more boldness or more knowledge, 
have recognized in her the goddess Frigg, Odin's 
wife. Dear Frau Holle ! what a coming down ! 
what poor creatures we are, after all. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 313 

As soon as the cross was planted on the banks 
of the Rhine and the Danube, Frigg, under the 
name of Hertha (Mother Earth), had taken refuge 
on an island in the ocean, where she lived invisi- 
ble and alone in the heart of a sacred forest, which 
was constantly invaded by the waves of the sea. 

A priest, who had remained faithful to the old 
religion, alone knew the hour and the minute 
when the goddess would deign once more to ap- 
pear to men. At the given moment he drew forth, 
on the marshy island, a chariot wrapped in veils. 
Hertha got in, and for some days travelled through 
the world, diffusing all around her good will and 
consolation. Then all wars were suspended ; not 
only the sword went back into its sheath, but all 
irons, all defensive and offensive weapons and even 
the iron shoes of the ploughs, had to be kept care- 
fully concealed. Hertha invited the world to enjoy 
peace and repose. 

Now let us see in what respect Frau Holle or 
Holla reminds us of the good goddess. 

At certain periods of the year, especially at 
Christmas, Frau Holle leaves her marshy island 
in order to inspect the world. All who work in 
linen, spinning, weaving, embroidery, or starching, 
are by turns visited by the good lady. Their 
idleness and their carelessness are severely pun- 
ished. If one fine morning Annie finds her wheel 



314 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

or Kate her loom covered with green sHme, if Ber- 
tha notices her work torn in the place which she 
repaired only the night before, or if the water has 
over night turned greasy and looks discolored, the 
poor girls may be sure that Frau HoUe has been 
on her round of inspection. 

If she is pleased, on the other hand, the ribbon 
around the distaff holds a pretty marshflower, a lily, 
an iris, or a gladiolus ; on the lace cushion or on 
the seamstress's work a little golden needle is stuck, 
and on the heap of specially well washed and well 
folded linen lies a cake of perfumed soap, which 
fills the whole house with its sweet odor. 

Sometimes Frau Holle finds her way mysteri- 
ously to a garret, where a poor woman is lying 
sick with fever, the result of overwork. Then she 
finishes herself the work that had been begun, and 
when she leaves she puts a few florins under the 
pillow of the sleeping sufferer. 

Blessings be upon you, good Dame Holle! Even 
if you were really once a goddess of the first rank, 
you need not blush at your present condition. 
Still, we cannot help asking, with a slight tremor 
of fear, how it can have come about, that the noble 
Frigg, the all powerful Hertha, should have been 
reduced to play the lady patroness of washerwomen 
and seamstresses ? How has this island in the 
ocean, with its sacred forest, become a wretched 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



15 



marsh, fetid and ill reputed ? There is but one 
answer to such a question : Frigg has been un- 
fortunate. 

But the spinners and seamstresses, the clear- 
starchers and embroiderers are not the only ones 
who are honored by kind attentions from the 
supernatural world. The 
brothers Grimm say : — 

"In certain parts of the 
world, every person — man, 
woman, or child — has his 
own goblin to do menial 
service ; he carries water, 
cuts wood, and fetches 
beer." During all this time 
the master has nothing to 
do but to set still and to 
see the work done. 

This goblin is evidently 
the Genius loci of the an- 
cients. 

Among all these goblins, 
however, one is by far the 
most famous in Germany, 

and at the same time the oddest, of whom the 
most extraordinary stories are told. They call him 
Kobold. 




During the night the Kobold sets everything to 



3l6 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

rights in the kitchen ; he cleans the glasses, the 
plates, the pans, and wages war against the spiders 
and the mice. For all these attentions he asks 
only a little food, specially prepared for him, for he 
would never dream to ask for a share of his mas- 
ter's dinner. 

Although he seems to be specially devoted to 
the cook's department, the Kobold is first of all 
attached to the house. If the cook is dismissed, 
or if the master moves, he nevertheless remains in 
his old home, quite ready to offer his services to 
the new comers. If the cook goes, she says to her 
who takes her place : — 

" Do not forget to put a little panada on the 
kneading trough for the Kobold, or he might play 
you some ugly tricks. Be careful, for he is not 
always in good humor." 

If the Kobold, or in his place the cat, eats the 
panada, the new cook is sure to say : — 

" Chim has been here ; I see we shall be good 
friends." 

But if Chim has left the dainty untouched, or 
has merely tasted it, she is troubled. 

" Perhaps he wants it made with the yolk of 
an ^"g^ ? Or perhaps I had not put enough but- 
ter to it ? " 

Although the Kobold is almost always invisible, 
he is at all times ready for a chat. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



317 



What are we to make of these strange beings, 
the servants of our servants, who are even more 
faithful than the latter to the house which they 
have once made their home, who do not, as we are 
told is the case in some countries, insist so stroncrlv 
upon certain privileges that it becomes uncertain 
whether the servants are not themselves masters 
and those who think themselves to be masters are 
in reality servants ? They generally do nothing but 
kindness. Nevertheless they keep out of sight, thus 
shunning all public return for their benevolent ser- 
vices. What are we to make of such servants ? 
Martin Luther answers in his " Table Talk." 

" For many years," he says, " a servant had a fa- 
miliar spirit who sat down 
by her on the hearth, where 
she had made a little place 
for him, and they talked 
to each other during the 
long winter evenings. One 
day she asked Heinzchen 
(Chim, Heinzchen, and 
Kurt Chimgen are the 
pet names by which Ger- 
man and Alsatian cooks 
generally call their Ko- 
bolds) to let her see him 
in his natural shape. At first Heinzchen refused. 




3l8 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

but at last, as she insisted, he told her to go down 
into the cellar, where he would show himself to 
her." " She took a candle," he goes on to say, 
" and went into the cellar, where the Kobold ap- 
peared to her in the likeness of a child of hers 
who had died some years before. Whether he 
vanished then, leaving her in amazement and terror, 
or whether he resumed the shape in which she had 
been accustomed to see him, we are not told. It 
is a grim story upon which we do not care to 
dwell, for we prefer to remember the Kobold as a 
cheerful household companion. It is pleasant to 
think of those quaint little creatures, whose world 
is the kitchen, and to imagine the joy they feel in 
sharing the busy, bustling life that goes on there 
daily. Be sure they know every nook and corner 
about, — every stew-pan and ladle, and are learned 
in the steamy scents and fragrant savors which are 
the atmosphere of their home. At night when the 
fires are out, and the family is asleep, they have a 
life of their own. They are on the best possible 
terms with the cat, which they permit to share 
their food, and with which they no doubt waltz when 
in a gamesome mood. Happy Kobolds. 

According to general belief the Kobolds belong 
as much to the race of men as to the w^orld of 
spirits ; they retain the size and shape of infants, 
and that knife which so often is noticed in the form 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



319 



of a caudal appendage, is nothing less than the in- 
strument with which they have been put to death. 

There exist, however, quite a number of trouble- 
some hobgoblins, who turn the house upside down 
and deprive the people to whom they bear a 
grudge of all peace and sleep, till they well nigh 
drive them mad. But these creatures ought, in my 
opinion, not be mixed up 
with the Kobolds. The 
latter are almost invariably 
gentle and inoffensive ; if 
they sometimes become 
angry, they act just like 
children ; they break and 
smash things, but they are 
easily pacified by the sight 
of some little tit-bit, as for 
instance, a panada made 
with butter and eggs. 

The Zotterais and the 
Little White Ladies seem, 
in their habits at least, to 
come nearer to Kobolds. 
Very useful and easily sat- 
isfied, the Zotterais are as 
fond of stables as the Ko- 
bolds are of kitchens ; they 
curry the horses, nurse 




320 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

them when they are sick, and keep everything in 
excellent order in their racks as well as in the 
harness-room. 

The Little White Ladies, on the other hand, 
are more delicate in their instincts and often quite 
fastidious ; they like only blood horses, Arab or 
Turkish horses, and hence the popular idea that 
they have originated in the East. 

They slip into the stables of wealthy people, 
while the grooms are asleep ; here they light a 
small candle, which they always keep about them, 
and then proceed to business. 

In the morning, when the head, coachman makes 
his round to see that everything is right, he some- 
times finds a drop of wax on the smooth coat of 
a sorrel or an Isabel colored horse, and then he 
says to the grooms : — 

" You have not had much to do to-day, my 
friends, with your horses ; I see the little lady has 
been here." 

The Zotterais are of unmistakable German ori- 
gin, for they take care of horses without regard to 
race and without the help of a wax candle. They 
have, of course, harder work to do and are more 
apt to become soiled or to have accidents ; but, 
nevertheless, they accomplish their purpose. They 
are naturally easily tired, and hence they require a 
knot to be made in the mane of a horse, where 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



321 




they can suspend themselves and rest. There is 

not a peasant on the banks 

of the Rhine or the Meuse, 

who would neglect this duty, 

and I have myself often seen 

them attend to it carefully. 

Formerly the Zotterais 
also protected sheep against 
ticks and kept their wool 
from getting tangled ; they 
even derived their name 
from Zotte, which means a ""- 

flock of wool. In those days, 

it must be presumed, from the habits of those be- 
nevolent little people, the fleeces must have been 
whiter and better kept than they are now-a-days ; 
but sheep raisers had the unlucky idea, produced 
probably by avarice, that not a particle of wool 
should be left on ram or ewe, and thus deprived 
their tiny friends of all means to rest and recover 
breath when hard at work. The Zotterais looked 
upon this neglect of what was due to them as an 
insult, and abandoned the flocks of sheep for the 
horses in the stables. Besides, they found it impos- 
sible to live on good terms with the shepherds' dogs. 

We must finally mention the most important 

and most extraordinar}^ of all familiar spirits, whom 

we must needs include among these favored be- 
21 



322 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



ings, as he represents nothing less than the son of 
the house, the child of the family. 

This is the Killecroff or Suppositus, C ^ n^^^^-^j 
The last mentioned name is given to him be- 
cause this so-called son of the house is in reality 

a changeling, a supposed 
child, which has been put 
into the place of the real 
child. 

Who has taken the legiti- 
mate child from its cradle 
in order to put into its 
place a Killecroff, and who 
is the real father of the 
latter .? 

Both of these questions 
are met by one and the 
same answer. The Devil ! 
We have so far carefully avoided touching on 
matters of witchcraft ; but unfortunately they are 
as well known on the banks of the Rhine as on 
those of the Thames and the Seine. The Kille- 
croffs, however, children of the Devil and begotten 
according to popular belief during the orgies of 
the Witches' Sabbath, have been really in exist- 
ence upon earth ; suppositi or not, they have played 
their part in the world's history and occasionally 
even left behind them illustrious descendants. 







// 






MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



.23 



In the same way as the Swedish king Vilkins 
and Merovaeus, king of the Franks, boasted of 
being the sons of a sea-god, the dynasty of the 
Jagellons in Poland were proud of their original 
descent from the Devil, no doubt through Kille- 
croffs, and actually bore in their arms certain em- 
blems of hell. 

How can a real Killecroff be recognized, since 
he has been, improperly enough, counted in among 
the Kobolds? 




From his first appearance in the world, the Kille- 
croff excites the astonishment, and sometimes the 



324 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

admiration of his reputed parents. He sucks so 
heartily and with such an appetite that his nurse 
has to be reinforced by two goats and a cow, Hke 
the renowned Gargantua. 

When he is weaned a new marvel appears : he 
swallows his soup by the tureen, " as much as two 
peasants and two threshers in the barn would 
take," says a celebrated writer in speaking of this 
subject. 

He grows up and keeps everything in commo- 
tion around him ; he provokes quarrels not only 
among the servants, but even between his parents. 
If some untoward event occurs he roars with laugh- 
ter, on a day of rejoicing he sheds tears and moans 
piteously. He takes a stick or a spit and rides on 
it in his room, from morning till evening, climbing 
on every chair and table, breaking everything that 
comes in his way, injuring himself also quite as 
readily, provoking cats, dogs, and even the parrot 
on his perch, till they all mew and bark and scream. 
Then he runs to the stable and sticks a pin into 
the croup of a horse to see it kick, and then breaks 
open the doors and locks by the aid of a huge 
stick of wood ; next he rushes into the garden, 
playing the part of a tempest there, destroying, up- 
rooting, and breaking everything. 

In the poultry yard he wrings the hens' necks 
and walks over the young chickens ; in the kitchen 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 325 

he loves to take up the tops of pots and pans and 
to season the dishes according to his fancy with 
salt, pepper, dust, ashes, oil, vinegar, mustard, sand, 
or sawdust, and never leaves without having turned 
on the water everywhere. 

If a visitor arrives, he takes possession of him 
and stands between his legs, and walks on his 
toes, pulls the buttons off his waistcoat, and draws 
the strings out of his shoes ; he troubles and an- 
noys him in every way, he pinches and scratches, 
he worries and tortures him. When his mother 
cautiously observes that he must not trouble the 
gentleman he obeys like a good child and leaves 
the gentleman alone, but not without having first 
broken his watch-chain, taken his cane, and hid his 
spectacles ; the cane he drops accidentally into the 
w^ll; as for the spectacles, he forgets wdiere he has 
put them. When the poor visitor, quite overcome 
and exhausted, at last rises to go, he stumbles and 
falls down the stairs, thanks to a string which his 
playful young friend, the Killecroff, has stretched 
across the top step. 

The Killecroffs are generally the delight of their 
parents ; fortunately they do not live long. 

The great man whom I have quoted before, told 
the Duke of Anhalt frankly, that if he were a 
sovereign like the duke, he would run the risk and 
become a murderer in such a case, by ordering 



326 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



every such son of the devil to be thrown into the 
Moldau ! 

This great man, who beHeved so firmly in Kille- 
croffs, who believed likewise in Butzemann, in Ko- 
bolds, in Nixen and Undines, who saw the Devil 
in every fly that came to drink his ink or to perch 
on his nose, was again Dr. Martin Luther. 




The great Reformer, who was so valiant in com- 
bating the superstitions of the Papists, seems to 
have taken very little trouble to get rid of his 
own. 

But among the many delusions, in which he ap- 
parently delighted, there was one, a really charm- 



ing one, which arose from the Christian rehgion 
itself, and which, it seems to me, I cannot well 
pass over in silence when speaking of familiar 
spirits. 

I mean Guardian Angels. 

A most erudite and clever academician, Mr. Al- 
fred Maury, tells us in his charming book on 
" Magic and Astrology," that according to Egyp- 
tian doctrines a special star foretold the arrival of 
every man in this world. In proof of this state- 
ment, he refers us to Horapollon, in his " Treatise 
on Hieroglyphics." 

We infinitely prefer taking Mr. Maury's own evi- 
dence ; and he adds : " This creed exists still in 
some remote districts among rural populations, 
and especially in Germany." 

It may be that in certain portions of Germany 
every man may still have faith in his star ; we are 
willing to believe it, since he says so ; but almost 
everywhere the star has been superseded by a 
Guardian Angel, the White Angel, as they call 
him, a far more tempting personage, and infinitely 
more intimate and sympathetic. The White Angel 
is much more than the Genius loci ; it is in fact 
the Genius personalis. 

Without entering here upon a serious discussion, 
on the subject of Guardian Angels, whom the mod- 
ern Church is disposed to ignore, we shall prefer 



328 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

inserting here, as a complement to our chapter on 
Famihar Spirits, a legend, which we were fortunate 
enough to obtain directly from very truthful and 
very beautiful lips : — 

" A white figure appeared before the young girl 
as she aw^oke. 

" ' I am your Guardian Angel ! ' 

" ' Then you will grant me the wishes which I 
shall mention ? ' 

" ' I shall carry them to God's throne. You may 
count upon my assistance. What are your wishes } ' 

" ' O White Angel, I am tired of continually turn- 
ing the spindle, and my fingers are getting to be so 
hard by constant work, that yesterday, at the dance, 
my partner might have imagined he was holding a 
wooden hand.' 

" ' Your partner was that fine looking gentleman 
from Hesse } Did he not tell you that he adored 
your blue eyes and fair hair, and that he would 
make you a baroness, if you would go home with 
him ? ' 

" ' White Angel, make me a baroness ! ' 

" The evening of that day a young peasant came 
and asked Louisa's mother for her daughter's hand. 
The mother said, Yes. 

" ' White Angel, deliver me from this boor. I 
want to be a baroness ! ' 

" But the mother, who was a widow, had energy 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 329 

enough for two. The White Angel did not appear 
again ; Louisa had to yield, and went on turning 
her spindle. 

" One day her husband, who was a hard-working 
man, had over-exerted himself and was taken ill. 
Louisa had seen her gentleman again. 

" ' White Angel, he loves me still. He has sworn 
he would marry me if I were a widow.' .... She 
dared not say more. Her husband recovered his 
health completely. The White Angel still turned 
a deaf ear to her wishes. She lost all hope of ever 
becoming a baroness. 

" Some years later Louisa was the mother of two 
beautiful children ; she was fond of her husband, 
w^hose labor procured for her all that she needed, 
and when she thought of him and her two darl- 
ings, the spindle felt quite soft to her fingers. 

" One evening, when she was only half asleep, 
lying by her husband's side, with one of her hands 
in his, and the youngest of her babies at her bo- 
som, the white figure appeared once more and she 
heard a gentle voice whispering something into her 
ear. It was the voice of the White Angel. 

"What did it say .5^ 

" It told her a fable. 

" ' A little fish w^as merrily swimming about in the 
water and looking seriously at a pretty blackcap 
which first circled around and around in the air 



330 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

and then alighted softly on a branch of a willow 
which grew close to the bank of the river. 
-^ " '" Oh," said the little fish, " how happy that 
bird is. It can rise up to the heavens and go high 
up to the sun to warm itself in its rays. Why 
cannot I do the same ? " 

" ' The blackcap was looking at the fish at the 
same time, and said : — 

"'"Oh! how happy that fish is! The -element 
in which it lives furnishes it at the same time with 
food ; it has nothing to do but to glide along. 
How I should like to sport in the fresh, transpa- 
rent water ! " 

" ' At that moment, a kite pounced upon the 
poor little fish, while a scamp of a schoolboy threw 
a stone at the bird ; the blackcap fell into the 
water, the fresh, transparent water, and for a mo- 
ment struggled in it before it died, while the little 
fish, carried aloft, could go up on high to the sun 
and warm itself in its rays. Their wishes had been 
granted.' 

" ' Louisa,' continued the gentle voice, ' our duty 
as Guardian Angels is far more frequently to 
thwart wishes than to satisfy them.' 

" This was the moral of the fable. 

" Louisa pressed her husband's hand warmly, 
kissed her last born, and said : ' Thank you. White 
Angel, thank you.' " 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



331 



I am certainly delighted to think, that if the 
poor Germans have Killecroffs among their familiar 
spirits, they have at least also White Angels. 




i 




XIV. 

Giants and Dwarfs. — Duel between Ephesiin and Gi'omineliind. 
— Court Dwarfs and Little Dwarfs. — Yiner''s Sons. — The In- 
visible Reapers. — Story of the Dwarf Kreiss and the Giant 
QuADRAGANT. — How the Giajits caine to serve the Dwarfs. 



If legendary tradition is only a distant vibration 
of the bell of history, where must we go and look 
for traces of the real existence of giants ? Must we 
believe the Edda or Holy writ itself ? Afterwards 
the great fossil skeletons of mammoths, mastodons, 
and other antediluvian animals only revived the 



336 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



memory of gigantic men. The Apocryphal Books 
tell us that in the days of Enoch, a number of an- 
gels, amounting to two hundred, had conceived a 
desire for the daughters of men and came down to 
Mount Hermon in order to be near them. Some 
of the principal ones are even mentioned by name; 
there were Urakabaramiel, Sanyaza, Tamiel, and 
Akibiel. Is it a wonder, then, that credulous people 
should have believed that devils also, who after all 
are but fallen angels, have acted in the same way 
towards the descendants of Eve. The Killecroffs, 
we have seen, were the offspring of a union between 
devils and earthborn women; in like manner giants 
were the offspring of marriages between women and 
angels. Women are evidently capable of setting 
heaven, earth, and hell on fire. 

Germany, which was the last part of Europe to 
enter the great Catholic Church, and was to be the 
first to leave it again at the time of the Reforma- 
tion, kept up the belief in giants longer than any 
other country. Perhaps this was one of the results 
of the right of free inquiry. 

The giant Einheer lived in the days of Charle- 
magne and even served in his army. Several cen- 
turies later there were gigantic burgraves (Burggra- 
fen), living all along the banks of the Rhine. They 
have a well known story there of a young and in- 
genious giant's daughter, who had been jealously 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



337 



guarded in her father's casde, and when she got out 
into the fields for the first time in her Hfe, brouQ-ht 
back in her apron a peasant with his plough and 
his two horses, whom she had picked up on the 
way. She showed them to her father as being all 
three little animals of very curious shape. 

After a while, however, the giants became smaller 
and smaller, until there were only a few left in the 
highest mountains, in dark forests, and in the ro- 
mances of chivalry. After that they disappeared 
altos^ether. 





The report is, however, that a single couple, 
man and wife, are kept alive by magic art in an 
isolated part of the Hartz Mountains, to serve as a 
specimen of the lost race. 



22 



33B 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



At first the giants had produced universal terror. 
The god Thor was blessed because he had driven 
them, armed as he was with his famous iron mace, 
all across the Hercynian forest. But as people 
became better acquainted with them, their fears 
subsided. They turned out to be far from cruel, 
to eat human flesh only in cases of dire necessity, 
and to act generally not only kindly, but even like 
simpletons — a misfortune common to most men, 
who are too fully developed in length or in breadth. 
This latter weakness is well supported by a popu- 
lar German tale. 

An old duke of Bavaria had at his court a dwarf, 
called Ephesim, and a giant, called Grommelund. 
The latter laughed at the dwarf, and Ephesim 
threatened to box his ears. Grommelund laughed 
only the more heartily and challenged Ephesim to 
carry out his threat. The dwarf accepted the chal- 
lenge, and the duke, having been a witness of the 
whole scene, ordered at once that a field for single 
combat should be prepared. 

Everybody expected to do as the giant did and 
laugh at the pigmy; as the poor little fellow 
was hardly two feet high and would have had to 
climb a long way before reaching the giant's ears. 
But it turned out very differently. 

The dwarf began by walking all around the giant 
as if to take his measure. The good-natured giant, 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



339 



standing up immovable, looks down upon him and 
lauorhs till his sides 

o 

shake ; but while he is 




holding his hands to 
his sides, the dwarf un- 
ties his shoestrings and 
then worries him by 
kicking and pinching 
his calves. 

Grommelund laughs 
more loudly than ever, 
thanks to the tickling, 
takes a few strides, 
steps on his loose 

shoestrings, nearly stumbles, and at last, with a 
thoughtful presence of mind, characteristic of his 
race, he stoops down to tie the strings. 

Ephesim has foreseen this, he avails himself of 
the opportunity, and slaps the giant's cheek with 
his little hand, so heartily that the sound reaches 
the ears of the duke and the lords of his court, 
who applaud Ephesim's skill enthusiastically. 

The poor giant, humiliated and overcome, left 
the town, it is said, and sought refuge in the moun- 
tains, where he died of shame. 

The people were thus beginning to have a very 
humble opinion of giants, when a rumor was spread 
that they had entered the service of the dwarfs ; 



340 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



not of court dwarfs, but of little dwarfs, who are 
so small that, by their, size, the others appear as 
giants. 

These little dwarfs appear in the popular tales 
of Germany, under different names, as Wichtelmdn- 
ner, Metallarii, or Homunculi, and evidently, at 




THE HUMILIATED GIANT. (p. 34I.) 

one time, were found in great numbers throughout 
all the mountainous parts of the North. In Bre- 
tagne they were also known as Couribes, Parulpi- 
quets or Cornicouets, but as they are ugly and evil 
disposed, I presume they are not of the same race 
with our good little dwarfs. These latter appear 
in the evening at the foot of large oak trees, or in 
old ruins, where they come by the thousand out 






>m-Mfh. 

Mi 




OUR GOOD LITTLE DWARFS. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 343 

of every crack and crevice and gambol and frolic, 
but vanish at the smallest noise. 

As to their origin there are different opinions 
entertained. One theory alone is worthy of belief, 
because it is mentioned already in the Edda. 

According to the Scandinavian Bible, when Odin 
had killed the giant Ymer, his decaying body pro- 
duced an innumerable quantity of small worms. 
By a law of natural order which had already be- 
come operative with insects, each worm changed 
into a chrysalis, and out of each chrysalis came 
forth a little man, resembling, with a few trifling 
differences, the race of full sized men, whom Odin 
had created. 

Like ourselves, they also are subject to all the 
infirmities of age, to disease and death ; like our- 
selves, they are at times capable of reasoning with 
fairness. Skillful metallurgists, they are at work in 
the mines, where we have already met them ; they 
are not without imagination, and even know what 
piety is. 

What religion do they profess } 

For a long time, we are told, the majority, hav- 
ing been converted to Christianity, were under its 
benign influence, in a far higher degree than we, 
for they did not carry on war among themselves, 
and all authors, legends, and ballads agree, that 
they were gentle and peaceful, loving each other, 



344 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

kindly disposed towards others, laborious, and very 
obliging. Hence they were universally known as 
the Peaceful People, — das stille Volk. 

" In ancient times," says Wyss, " men lived in 
the valleys, and around their dwellings, in the cavi- 
ties of the rocks, dwelt the little dwarf people, 
keeping always on very good terms with them, and 
helping them even at times in their work in the 
fields. They took great delight in doing good in 
this way; for generally they were very busy min- 
ing in the mountains, and digging in the ground 
to collect the tiny particles of gold and silver that 
could be obtained." 

Sometimes field laborers coming out to plant 
or to weed, found their work already done, and 
heard the dwarfs, hid behind the bushes, break out 
into loud laughter, when they showed their amaze- 
ment. 

It happened one day, early in the morning, that 
some peasants in passing a cornfield, saw that the 
stalks were falling in long rows, as if by their own 
will ; they were most cunningly cut off below, and 
now they were ranging themselves, also to all ap- 
pearance by their own act, in long sheaves. The 
peasants had no doubt that the good little dwarfs 
were there, working away stealthily, but of the- tiny 
workmen not a trace could be seen. 

The dwarfs possessed, in common with all these 



mysterious races, the power of making themselves 
invisible. They had nothing to do, for that pur- 
pose, but merely to draw a little hood over their 
ears, which formed part of their costume. 

Our countrymen, seeing that the wheat was not 
ripe enough to be cut, became exceedingly angry 
against these injudicious friends, and arming them- 
selves with twigs, went to work striking right and 
left in the hope of hurting one or the other by 
chance. They really heard some faint cries of dis- 
tress in the furrows, and soon the first rows of 
wheat which had been left standing were thrown 
into violent disorder, thus testifying to the flight 
of the little ones. 

Several of the dwarfs became even visible, as the 
twigs suddenly tore the hoods from their heads. 
Thereupon the men became furious and tried to 
strike all the harder ; but suddenly a violent storm 
broke forth and the hail came down in torrents, 
cutting the whole standing crop to pieces and spar- 
ing only the rows that had been reaped. 

The rude countrymen now saw clearly that the 
Quiet People had foreseen the hailstorm and 
anticipated the harvest on that account. They 
repented their brutality, but the dwarfs, disgusted 
by their ingratitude, never again appeared in that 
region of country. Similar occurrences took place 
in other countries. 



346 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



Now let US see, by what perseverance, by what 
skill, and especially by what audacious conceptions 
these tiny beings, not much more than a few inches 
high, succeeded in making themselves masters of 

the giants. 

It is said, though with- 
out fixing a date, that in 
ancient times, one of the 
principal giants wanted a 
cane, perhaps to beat the 
dust out of his clothes, 
or perhaps merely to give 
himself a fashionable air 
in the presence of certain 
giant damsels, and thus 
pulled up a young oak 
sapling. Now it so hap- 
pened that in the roots 
of that tree a whole na- 
tion of our myrmidons 
had been living for some 
time. 

When the giant saw 
this host of little creatures, 
running about quite be- 
wildered, pushing and jos- 
tling each other in their anxiety to regain their 
little mole-hill, he stood at first with his mouth 




'•^H 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 347 



wide open, lost in amazement. Then, to amuse 
himself in true lordly fashion, he crushed a few 
dozen with his foot. 

But he was not without curiosity, and hence he 
tried in the next place to find out something about 
their manners. The moment was not very well 
chosen, it must be confessed. Men do not usually 
choose a city that has just been taken by storm 
and given up to pillage, for the purpose of study- 
ino- the manners and customs of its citizens. But 
we have seen before this, that giants are not re- 
markably bright. 

Our giant, whose name I have never been able 
to ascertain and whom I will call for convenience 
sake, Quadragant (" Quadragant was rather colos- 
sal," I once read in " Amadis of Gaul ; " our giant 
was really colossal, for he measured thirty feet in 
height), our giant, I say, stretched himself out at 
full length and fixed his eyes upon the hole out of 
which he had pulled the oak tree. He heard a 
low humming noise underground, but he could see 
nothing. 

He thought he would wait patiently, and in wait- 
ing he fell quietly asleep, turning over so as to lie 
on his back, his usual position when he was sleep- 
ing. 

After a few hours' sound and heavy sleep, such 
as all giants are said to enjoy, he awoke. Finding 



34B 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



that the sun had in the mean time followed his 
example and gone to sleep, he remembered that it 
was supper time, and as he thought of the delights 
in store for him he uttered a long and deep sigh 
of satisfaction. But something that his long drawn 
breath had brought up, suddenly jumped out of his 
mouth. 



MH L 










This something was one of the dwarfs ; and this 
dwarf, the boldest and most intelligent among them 
all, was called Kreiss. 

But in order to make it clear how Kreiss hap- 
pened to be almost in the giant's throat, which was 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 349 

of course only accidentally his home for a time, 
we must go back and see what had happened while 
Quadragant was asleep. 

When the little pigmies found their tree uprooted 
and their people scattered in all directions, escaping 
through every crack and crevice in the soil, they 
had rushed into a long subterranean passage, ex- 
cavated in days long gone by, by their forefathers. 
Here they had uttered their well known cries of 
distress, resembling the chirp of crickets, and thus 
they had finally reached the ruins of an old castle, 
inhabited by vast numbers of their people, and 
chosen as the place of meeting of the General 
Council of the dwarfs. 

Kreiss happened to have arrived the night before, 
as one of a numerous deputation, and he at once 
suggested the propriety of burying the dead with 
all due honors, before anything else was done. 
After that, they might go to work stopping up all 
the holes and openings made by the tearing up of 
the sapling, and filling the excavation which it had 
produced, so that the rain might not come and in- 
undate their long gallery, which was their only safe 
means of communication. 

The two resolutions offered by Kreiss were car- 
ried by acclamation, and all, loaded with brush and 
with stakes, went immediately to work. There 
were some ten thousand of them. 



350 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

They thought the giant had left, but they found 
him lying full length on the ground and snoring 
most fiercely. Their first impulse was to escape, 
but Kreiss held them back. He had conceived a 
bold plan ; he proposed to capture the giant. Were 
they not already provided with ropes and with 
stakes } Was there not strength in numbers ? 
They immediately went to work, and in less than 
an hour the murderer, unable as he w^as to make 
the slightest motion, was bound to the soil which 
he had soaked with their blood. 

" What do you say } . . . . Yes, sir, you are un- 
doubtedly right. This looks very much like the 
manner in which Gulliver was treated in the island 
of Lilliput. How can we help that ? Besides, we 
must remember that there have been dwarfs in 
Germany from time immemorial. If Jonathan Swift 
undertook to transfer them to imaginary countries, 
whose business is that and who is liable to be 
charged with plagiarism, I ask you ? " 

We will not stop to discuss this trifling matter, 
which is of little importance. We have weightier 
matters than that in hand. 

When the work was done and with the excite- 
ment of the efforts the first enthusiasm also had 
somewhat passed away, the question arose what 
was to be done with their capture. They looked 
at each other in great perplexity. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 35 I 

The dwarfs are kind hearted people, who have a 
great horror of blood. Besides, it would have been 
more difficult even, to dispose of the giant after 
death than to kill him. Still, if they did not kill 
Quadragant he would, as soon as he was awake, 
go to work and cry for help lustily ; then the other 
giants would, no doubt, hasten to his assistance. 
The disgrace inflicted upon one of their brethren 
would in all probability render them furious, and 
they would proceed at once to uproot all the trees 
and to pursue the poor little people of dwarfs down 
into the verv bowels of the earth. 

While these and similar observations were pass- 
ing in the crowd from one group to another, Kreiss 
remained silent and thoughtful, supporting his head 
in his hand and his hand on his elbow. 

In the mean time the crowd passed from simple 
talk to grumbling and from grumbling to threats. 
There w^as nothing left but to undo what was done 
as promptly as possible, to abandon this ridiculous 
enterprise and to restore the giant to liberty in the 
same way in which he had been deprived of it — 
during his sleep. If he should awake before the 
operation was over, why, then they might try to 
appease his wrath by handing over to him the au- 
thors of this fatal project. 

Ah! one can see at a glance, that these dwarfs, 
small as they were, were nevertheless men, and 



352 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

that it is better not to venture upon attacking 
giants ! 

They were utterly discouraged and demoraHzed. 
Cahii in spite of all this excitement around him, 
Kreiss was still meditating, apparently quite unmind- 
ful of all the invectives that were hurled at him 
and the little hands that were threatening him. 
But when some of them actually began to loosen 
the ropes, he suddenly dropped his hands from his 
elbow and his brow, and turning sharply upon his 
aggressors, he said : — 

" I acknowledge my mistake and I am ready to 
atone for it. Go, — my seven brothers and myself, 
we will alone set the giant free again. If he 
awakes, he shall have to do with us and with us 
only. Go ! " 

The former conspirators were well content to 
accept the proposition, and without bestowing a 
thought upon their murdered brethren, they escaped 
as fast as they could. In the dim twilight of the 
last hour of the day one might have seen them 
running nimbly through the tall grass and under 
the cupolas of mushroom, arousing in their hurry 
the beetles and moths, or even mounting upon 
their backs in order to reach bv their aid all the 
more quickly their safe retreat in the ruins of the 
old castle. 

When all were gone save Kreiss and his seven 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE 



353 



brothers, he said to them : " Now that we are 
alone, we alone shall reap the glory of the enter- 
prise ! So far from regretting what I have done, 




^^p^.ua:«S«i^li2S=- 



FLIGHT OF THE CONSPIRATORS. 



I mean on the contrary, to enlarge our project in 
a manner which shall redound to the eternal glory 
of our race." 

The dwarfs are not only skillful metallurgists, but 
they are also most expert carpenters and builders. 

Hence the good people of the Rheingau are 
23 



354 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



convinced that they have built all those ruins of 
solid old castles, in which they are still living and 
which they have so cunningly repaired and propped 
up that they will last forever. 

Now Quadragant was sleeping with his mouth 
wide open, as all large people are apt to do. Kreiss 
slipped boldly into this vast and spacious cavity, 
armed with a long spear w^hich was equally sharp 




and pointed at both ends. He took care to rest 
at first most cautiously only upon the projections 
of the teeth, which formed, so to say, a double row 
of parallel battlements. By such assistance he 
passed from one end of the abyss to the other, 
without troubling the slumbers of the giant by the 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



355 



slightest awkwardness in his movements. For a 
case of emergency Kreiss held his spear firmly in 
his hands, ready to fasten it so between the two 
jaws as to prevent their closing upon him. 

His brothers were in the meantime busily en- 
gaged in preparing posts, pins, and rafters, which 
they handed to him as he needed them. One of 
them even went with him to assist him. 




They fixed strong piles between the two rows of 
teeth, and strengthened the piles by beams, which 
secured them to each other. The work was by no 
means an easy one, for in the mouth of the giant 
it was as dark as night, and there reigned in it a 
heat equal to that of an oven. Moreover Quadra- 
gant had dined that day on a deer and several 



hares, and as he Hked his game high, Hke every 
good judge of fine dinners, the perfumes of his 
breath increased the inconvenience caused by the 
heat and the darkness. 

Kreiss's brother was all of a sudden taken ill, and 
had to leave to join the others outside. They, 
however, continued work on the scaffolding, and 
watched the giant carefully. 

Quadragant was absolutely in the hands of the 
eiQ:ht dwarf brothers. 

They had passed up a lantern to Kreiss, which he 
hung upon one of the transverse beams, and he now 
continued his work alone resolutely, although he 
was every now and then compelled to stop his nose. 

His work was at last completed, and he was just 
about to leave this damp, pestiferous abyss, when 
the giant awoke, and his first sigh carried off the 
brave pigmy, as a gust of wind would have carried 
off a dry leaf from a branch, and hurled him sense- 
less into space. He fell heavily upon the chest of 
the colossus. 

As soon as he recovered from the shock, he 
looked around carefully, and saw, to his great satis- 
faction, that the bonds which held the giant were 
beyond doubt strong enough to hold him a pris- 
oner. Then he crept cautiously all along the neck 
as far as his ear, and by its aid climbed up the 
chin, after having crossed the cheek in its whole 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



357 




leno^th. When he had found a convenient restinor- 
place, he drew himself up to his full height, and 
raising his feeble voice as loud as he could, he 
said to the giant : — 

" Murderer of our brethren, you are our pris- 
oner, and you must die ! Commend 
your soul to God." 

The giant tried to see the tiny be- 
ing who was speaking to him so 
boldly, and cast down his eyes. At 
first he could distinguish nothing but 
a feeble glimmering light at the ex- 
tremity of his nose ; but the nose it- 
self completely concealed the speaker. 

Kreiss then advanced a few steps from the chin 
towards the mouth of the colossus, and the latter 
now perceived a kind of little man, dressed in a 
cloak of mouse skin, which he grandly wrapped 
around him, as Hercules did with the skin of the 
Nemean lion. 

In his hand, however, he held not a club, but a 
lantern, in which a firefly did service as candle. 

Thanks to this phosphorescent sheen, which 
seemed to surround Kreiss as with a halo, Quad- 
ragant could examine him at leisure, and he asked 
himself how such an embryo could have flown out 
of his mouth, and how he, Ouadragant, could have 
become his prisoner t 



35^ MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

The contemptuous glance which he threw at the 
dwarf made Kreiss aware of what he was discuss- 
ing in his mind. 

" You think you are not captured yet," he said. 
" Very well, try to get up and walk, if you can ! " 

Quadragant did try, and found that he was firmly 
fastened to the ground by ropes and chains, by 
each single hair of his head, by every hair on his 
body. He tried to speak to the pigmy, and he 
could not, by any effort of his, move his jaws in the 
slightest way. 

" As to the manner of your death," Kreiss went 
on, " if the wolves and the vultures do not hasten 
your end, hunger will do the work." 

At this thought of dying of hunger, a mode of 
death which he had always looked upon as the 
most terrible of all, Quadragant's heart gave way, 
and he began to cry piteously. Two torrents of 
tears flowed down his cheeks, and after turning 
around the prominence of his lips, ran over from 
his chin. 

Kreiss was compelled to leave his position, so as 
to avoid the double current. 

Although quite firm in his resolution, he was 
naturally kind-hearted. These many tears of such 
unwonted size finally touched 'him, but his sympa- 
thy made him only the more determined to render 
his vengeance as useful as it was complete. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



359 



" Listen to me, giant. You can buy your life, if 
you choose." Quadragant's tears ceased to flow. 
Here was life offered to him, and with that life he 




saw first of all a good supper in store for him, and 
if his mouth had not been held so tight by the 
scaffolding erected in it by Kreiss, his big face 
would have grinned from ear to ear. 

" But," continued the dwarf, " you will "have to 
devote your life and your liberty, if we restore both 
to you, to the service of our decimated people; do 
you hear ? You must understand me clearly ; you 
will not be our protector, but our servant ; you will 
unhesitatingly perfomi every kind of work which 
may be required of you for our safety or our com- 
fort. First of all you will replant that oak tree, 



3^0 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

under which the dwarfs of this district were Hvine 
in peace, and you will water it every morning un- 
til it has taken root again. Now, close your eyes, 
if you mean to accept our conditions ! " 

Quadragant opened and shut his eyes quickly ten 
times in succession. 

Kreiss made with his lamp a kind of telegraphic 
signal ; his brothers, all seven dressed in garments 
of mouse skin or mole skin, and carrying each one 
a lantern with a firefly inside, climbed in an instant 
upon the face of the giant, which now looked quite 
brightly illuminated. 

Three of them took their station on his forehead ; 
two others by the side of each eye. The last two 
held each a long thorn in their hands, which they 
seemed to use as a dagger. 

Kreiss, who had remained at his place, said again 
to the giant : — 

" If, after you have been set free, you dare utter 
a sound to call for help, you lose both of your 
eyes instantly. Mind the warning ! " 

Armed with his double pointed spear, he then w^ent 
once more into Quadragant's mouth, and loosened 
one of the transverse beams which formed the ceil- 
ing. The giant assisted him with his tongue in 
the work of demolition; then, after drawing a long 
sigh of relief, he closed his mouth and crushed 
between his formidable jaws all the timber, posts. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



361 



and beams, as if they had been a bundle of matches, 
and swallowed the whole in anticipation of his 
supper. 

After that he swore an oath which binds the giants 
as firmly as the invocation of the Styx pledged the 
gods of Greece. 




" By the earth, which is my mother, by the moun- 
tains, which are her bones, by the woods and for- 
ests, which are her hair, by the brooks, the streams, 
and the rivers, which are the blood of her veins, I, 



362 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

the giant Ouadragant, declare that I am the slave of 
the dwarfs." 

At sunrise Quadragant was up again, carrying 
his new masters between his fingers, which he 
twisted together in the shape of a cradle. In less 
than five minutes he reached, in obedience to their 
orders, the old castle in ruins, where a solemn 
meeting was held, not only by the fugitives of the 
day before, but also by the principal representatives 
of all the dwarfs of that part of Germany. 

When the sentinels announced the arrival of the 
giant, all thought their last hour had come and en- 
deavored to escape, hoping to find a refuge in the 
lowest depths of the old building. Kreiss, however, 
had ordered the giant to put him down in front of 
the cellars of the castle, and now entered the great 
Meeting Hall, assuming like all great conquerors, 
an air of extreme modesty. 

Then he informed them that the giant was their 
slave ! 

They at once threw themselves at his feet and 
expressed their desire to proclaim him Emperor of 
the Dwarfs. 

Kreiss, however, having heard of a recent experi- 
ment of that kind, was far from believing such 
sudden enthusiasm to be either deep or perma- 
nent. 

From that day the giant abandoned his old 










:f\<'ww 



KREISS ENTERING THE GREAT MEETING HALL. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



365 



name of Ouadragant, and assumed that of Putsku- 
chen, which at that time meant Friend of the 
Dwarfs, but which, translated into modern German, 
represents our omelette soufflee. 

At first all went wtII ; but at the end of three 
weeks Putskuchen looked sad and melancholy; 
Putskuchen only took half a 
dozen meals a day ; Putskuchen 
was slowly fading away ; Puts- 
kuchen was in love, in love with 
a young giantess, who taunted 
him with having become the 
servant of these wretched pyg- 
mies and reproached him with 
his poverty. The unhappy crea- 
ture fell off more and more, the 
omelette soufflee fell down flat, 
and Putskuchen was a mere lath of thirty feet in 
length. 

Kreiss had always felt a certain tenderness for 
him, and hence, after having asked the consent of 
all the other chieftains, he placed in the giant's 
hands a large heap of gold scales such as the 
dwarfs were in the habit of collecting in the neigh- 
boring mountains. 

It was enough to buy three wives, instead of 
one. 

The fact had no sooner become known than all 




366 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

the happy giant fathers of the country desired him 
as a son-in-law, and when they saw how Hberally 
his services had been rewarded by his new masters, 
they were all eager to become the serfs of the 
dwarfs. 

Thus, thanks to Kreiss, the giants gradually 
came all, one by one, and entered the service of 
the dwarfs. 

Certain skeptics have maintained that the whole 
story is symbolic. 

According to their interpretation the giant fast- 
ened to the ground and muzzled by the dwarfs, 
is the people, the people always kept down and 
always held in subjection, in spite of its gigantic 
strength. The dwarfs, who lived under the oak, 
the sacred tree of all nations of Celtic origin, are 
the priests. 

We say : Shame upon people, who would change 
a legend into an apologue and our friend Kreiss 
into a Druid! 

When the dwarfs became reconciled again to 
men, they compelled the giants to execute for them 
great works of public utility, such as bridges and 
highroads, which were afterwards generally ascribed 
to the Romans. 

The belief in little dwarfs continues to this day 
to exist in most of the Northern countries. They 
still live in myriads in the subterranean regions 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



367 



and in the rocks in Westphalia, in Sweden, and in 
Norway, and they are still hard at work amassing 
vast treasures. 





J.Gr 



XV. 



Wizards and the Bewitched. — Tke Journey of Asa-Thor and 
his Cof?ipanions. — The Inn with the Five Passages. — Skrymtier. 
— A Lost Glove found again. — Arrival at the Great City of 
Utgard. — Combat between Thor and the King's Nurse. — 
Frederich Barbarossa and the Kyffhauser. — Tcutonia ! 



Teutonia ! — What became of the Ancient Gods. — Venus and 
the good Knight Tannhduser. — Jupiter on Rabbit Island. — 
A Modern God. 

Hear ! hear ! New and greater marvels still ! 
But, unfortunately, we shall be under the sad 
necessity of returning to our giants once more, 
much as we have already spoken of them, from 
giant Ymer down to Quadragant, and there may 
be too much even of the best things in this world. 
But let the reader take courage ; this time my 
giants are not real giants ; or at least they are 
giants of a very peculiar species. But instead of 
losing time with limitations and explanations, let us 
begin our story. 

It was in the days when the Scandinavian gods 
were still in the full enjoyment of their power. 

One fine day the god Thor, curious to see cer- 
tain distant lands of which they had told him most 
marvelous stories, set out on his travels, accom- 
panied by Raska, Tialff, and Loki. Leaving Sweden 
and Norway behind, they arrived at the sea-shore and 
crossed over by swimming. A mere trifle, of course, 
for people of their kind. On the opposite shore 
they found a vast plain, and as night was approach- 
ing and they began to feel that rest would be ac- 
ceptable, they looked out for a shelter. In this 
vast and deserted plain they see but one single 
building ; a huge, ill-shapen, and abandoned house, 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 373 

rather broad than high and of altogether exceptional 
appearance. It has neither doors nor windows, nor 
even a roof ; but the night fog may possibly con- 
ceal a part of the edifice. The travellers enter and 
find a square, low vestibule, and at the end of it 
five long passages ; each of the travellers takes one 
of these passages, looking for a door or a bed in 
the dark. As they find neither bed nor chamber, 
they resign themselves and lie down on the floor, 
with their backs to the wall. 

But even the walls seem to be elastic, and so 
does the floor ; .perhaps a layer of straw or of moss 
was spread over them and gave them the softness 
of felt, rather coarse, to be sure, but not unpleas- 
ant. The travellers felt that they could sleep there 
comfortably and warm. So they did. 

At daybreak Thor rubbed his eyes, stretched his 
arms and proposed to take a turn in the country, 
to stretch his legs and to shake off the heaviness 
of sleep. Through the white mists which were still 
hanging on the tops of high hills he thought he 
saw a huge mass of disheveled hair, and then he 
discovered in the centre of that head two eyes. 
At first he thought this head and these eyes were 
simply a rock covered with shrubbery and two 
small pools of water shining in the rays of the 
rising sun. But soon the disheveled head began 
to move, bent down to the ground, and turned now 



to one side and now to another. In the meantime 
the mists had risen and Thor found that he was 
standing before a giant of such enormous size that 
those whom he was generally engaged in hunting 
down would not have reached to his knee. 

The giant advanced toward him, always looking 
here and there, and still with his eyes fixed on the 
ground, as if he were looking for something he had 
lost. 

Thor, who was easily incensed by the sight of a 
giant, went straight up to meet him and said in an 
arrogant tone : — 

" What are you doing here ? What is your 
name ? Who are you ? " 

" My name is Skrymner," replied the other. 
" Did you not know ? As for me, I have no need 
to ask you any such question ; you are the god 
Thor, one of those under sized gods who live with 
Odin on the ash tree Ygdrasil. Have you seen 
my glove ? I have lost my glove ; yes ! yester- 
day," he added in the most indifferent manner pos- 
sible, and as if he were solely occupied with his 
search. 

" I have found nothing of the kind," replied 
Thor, who was always in bad humor, and now re- 
gretted that he did not have his hammer at hand. 

" And do you travel quite alone ? " asked Skrym- 
ner. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE 375 

" I have three companions." 

" 1 do not see them." 

" They are all three still asleep in that house 
there, in which we have spent the night." 

And with his finger he pointed at the house, 
which they had used as an inn for the night. 

Skrymner looked both surprised and delighted. 
" My glove ! " he cried, " that is my glove ! I have 
found it." He hastened to pick up this apparent 
house with its five long passages, and took it up, 
but not before he had shaken it, holding it close to 
the ground, and showing thus that he was not 
without a feeling of humanity. 

Loki, Tialff, and Raska tumbled out upon the 
grass, rather terrified by their sudden ascension and 
the sudden somerset which they had been forced to 
make. But as soon as they had recovered from 
their first surprise, and especially from the discov- 
ery that they had spent the night in a glove, they 
thought of continuing their journey. 

The country was unknown to them, but Skrym- 
ner offered to act as guide and even to carry their 
baggage. So much obliging kindness and courtesy 
drove all aggressive thoughts out of Thor's mind, 
especially as he now had his hammer. 

At the first stopping place, and just when they 
were getting ready for breakfast, the giant left 
them, although only after having pointed out to 



376 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



them the road they ought to take. Thor, however, 
found he was unable to open the knapsack in 
which they carried their provisions ; all the strings 
and small chains by which it was fastened, were in 
knots. They had to proceed on their journey with- 
out having had any breakfast, a necessity which is 
most disagreeable to travellers, and even to gods. 

As hour after hour passed and the plain remained 
deserted and sterile, their hunger became tormenting. 
They listened with all their might, hoping they 
might hear the roaring of a bear or the lowing of 
a cow, determined as they were to dine upon the 
one or the other ; but the dull rumbling of a 
storm and the distant roll of thunder was all they 
heard. 

Thor was furious at the idea that any one should 
venture to thunder without having obtained per- 
mission from him, the god of thunder, and rushed 
forward. Following the direction of the noise, he 
reached a rocky defile, overshadowed by a few oak 
trees, where he found Skrymner lying at full length 
between two hills and snoring furiously. This 
snoring it was which the travellers had taken for 
the roaring of a storm. 

" No doubt," said Thor to himself, " the wretch 
is at work digesting the provisions of which he has 
robbed us. No doubt it was he who tied all those 
knots in the strings of our knapsack, in order to 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 377 

conceal his theft ; but he shall pay for it dear ! 
Besides, did he not speak of me as an undersized 
god ? " 

With these words he seized his hammer and 
threw it at the head of the sleeping giant, who did 
not stir, but only passed his hand over his brow 
as if a dead leaf falling from a tree had tickled 
him a little. 

Thor went up closer and struck him once more 
on the back of his head, directly on the cerebellum, 
which in giants is unusually developed. 

This time the sleeper opened one eye, closed it 
again, and after having scratched himself at the 
place where he had been struck, he fell asleep 
again. 

Brutal by nature and doubly so when fasting, Thor 
had become perfectly furious when he found him- 
self thus mysteriously powerless. Fully determined 
the next time to make an end, once for all, of his 
adversary, he put on his invisible belt, which had 
the gift of doubling his strength, seized his ham- 
mer with both hands and threw it with such amaz- 
ing force at the giant, that it sank up to the 
handle into one of his cheeks and Thor had no 
small trouble in getting it to come back to him. 

This time Skrymner was fully roused ; he opened 
both of his eyes, raised his hand to his cheek, and 
exclaimed that it was impossible to sleep comforta- 



37^ MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



bly in that place, as a fly had just stung him in 
the cheek. 

Then, perceiving his assailant, who stood right 
before him, he asked him good-naturedly, how he 
happened to be there, and whether he had lost his 
way. In the meantime the other travellers are also 
coming up and Skrymner offers to show them the 
way to the great city of Utgard, where he prom- 
ises they will find a good inn, a good table, a 
warm reception, and not only enough for their 
wants but all that their heart can desire. 

Thor does not know what to think. Overcome 
and confounded, he follows the footsteps of his 
guide, without being able to form any idea except 
the one : to avenge himself in a signal manner for 
all his humiliations. 

The city of Utgard is of incredible size, the city 
walls, the houses, the trees, the furniture, all are 
gigantic. Our travellers could easily pass between 
the legs of the little children they met in the 
streets, as we modern people pass under the tri- 
umphal arches of the ancients. You see, now we 
are no longer in Lilliput, we have reached the island 
of the giants with Gulliver. Gulliver might very 
well be the offspring of some Scandinavian legend. 

The king received Thor and his friends, laugh- 
ing heartily at their small size, and the seats they 
are offered are three times as high as they are. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 2>19 

After a host of adventures in which our men, that 
is to say, our gods, are continually victimized, Thor 
in his rage challenges the giants to single combat. 
The king accepts the challenge and offers to back 
his nurse, a toothless old woman, against the god. 
Thor consents, eager as he is to vent his wrath 
on somebody, and determines to pitch His Maj- 
esty's nurse out of the window. But by all his 
efforts he hardly succeeds in lifting her slightly 
off the ground, and he himself, exhausted by the 
struggle, sinks on his knees. 

On the next day our travellers came to the con- 
clusion that they had travelled far enough. Skrym- 
ner again showed the way, with his usual cour- 
tesy, and when they were well out of the town he 
took the god Thor aside and said to him : " So far 
you have only known my name and nothing of 
myself, now you ought to know that I am Skrym- 
ner, the wizard. You ought, therefore, not to 
mind anything that has happened to you during 
these last days. You thought you were striking 
me three times with your hammer, but in reality 
you were striking the impenetrable rocks, on which 
I was apparently sleeping. As to the nurse, you 
have given proof there of such strength as I should 
not even have expected from the great Thor, when 
you lifted her from the ground ; for the toothless 
old woman is none other but Death, yes Death, 



380 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

whom I had compelled to come and take part in 
our games. The rest was all enchantment, mere 
delusions ! I wanted to see if the power of the 
art of Magic was equal to that of the gods. Fare- 
well, Asa-Thor, and a pleasant journey to you." 

More enraged than ever, Asa-Thor was about to 
throw himself upon him ; but the pretended giant 
had fled in the shape of a bird. Then Thor turned 
back towards the city of Utgard, determined to 
destroy it utterly, but before his eyes it dissolved 
into a column of smoke. 

Well, I promised you some of Mother Goose's 
stories — have I kept word 1 And do not imagine 
that this story of Thor and the giants' city is of 
doubtful origin — you will find it in chapters 23, 24, 
25, and 26 of the sacred book called Edda. 

Of magicians and wizards I could say much, but 
the road is long and I am in haste to reach the 
end. And who does not know the story of the 
prowess of Merlin and of the Maugis 1 

In all the ancient traditions of the North there 
are found innumerable tales of wizards, witchcraft, 
and ghosts. Now rocks are changed into palaces, 
and now brutes into men and men into brutes ; 
and the same fantastic but always epic element 
prevails largely in all the old romances of chivalry 
as well as in the great poems of Ariosto and 
Tasso. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 38 1 

In almost all countries we find that epic poetry 
is closely allied to religious sentiments and through 
these to the marvelous ; for it has always found a 
first home in temples and a first use for temples. 
Thus it was in India with the Mahabarata, and in 
Greece with the myths of Hercules and of Orpheus. 
It could not be otherwise with the Gallic or Ger- 
man bards, nor with the Scandinavian skalds, all of 
whose grand poems are most unfortunately unknown 
at present. 

But a feature more peculiarly German than the 
wizards, are the bewitched, often called the Sleepers. 
In these Germany incorporates, as it were, the loft- 
iest of her patriotic aspirations, the saddest of her 
disappointments, the most persistent of her hopes. 
They represent not only her old faith, that could 
never be completely eradicated, but also her old 
favorites, a Hermann and a Siegfried, the hero of 
the Nibelungen, a Theodoric and a Charlemagne, 
a Witikind and a Frederick Barbarossa, a William 
Tell and a Charles V. Her heroes, her beloved, 
her glory — she has not allowed them to fall into 
oblivion and be severed from the present ; she will 
not admit that they are dead, they are but asleep. 
Witikind under the Siegberg in Westphalia, 
Charlemagne in the lowest rooms of his old castle 
at Nuremberg. There — and not, as might have 
been imagined, in Aix-la-Chapelle — the mighty old 



3^2 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

Emperor rests majestically, surrounded by his brave 
champions, ready to awake again whenever God 
shall be pleased to tell him that the moment has 
come. 

As for Frederick Barbarossa, he sleeps in the 
Kyffhauser, one of the porphyry and granite moun- 
tains of the Taunus, and so do others ; there is no 
denying the fact, for they have been seen ! 

A few years after his disappearance from this 
world, Frederick showed himself upon the summit 
of one of these mountains, whenever the sound of 
a musical instrument was heard in the valley. 
Knowing his love of music, the Philharmonic Soci- 
eties of Erfurth and of other towns to this day, are 
fond of serenading the old warrior. 

It is said that one evening, when the clock at 
Tilleda struck midnight, certain musicians who had 
ascended the Kyffhauser, suddenly saw the moun- 
tain open and a number of women adorned with 
jewels and carrying torches, came out of the open- 
ing. They beckoned to them, the men followed, 
continuing to play on their instruments and thus 
they came where the Emperor was. The latter 
ordered a good supper to be served, and when they 
were ready to leave again, the fair ladies of the 
court escorted them back, with their torches in 
their hands, and at the last moment gave to each 
of them a poplar branch. The poor musicians had 



hoped for better things from the Emperor's gene- 
rosity, and when they reached the foot of the 
mountain, they threw their branches into the road, 
very indignant at having been so badly treated. 
Only one among the number kept his branch, and 
when he reached home, carefully stuck it by the 
side of the consecrated bunch of box which hung 
over the head of his bed. Immediately, O marvel! 
each leaf of the poplar branch changed into a gold 
ducat. When the others heard of this, they has- 
tened to look for their branches, but they never 
found them again. 

On another occasion a shepherd — others say a 
miner — met on the Kyffhauser a monk with a 
white beard, who unceremoniously and just as if he 
had asked him to come and see his next door 
neighbor, told him to come with him and see the 
Emperor Barbarossa, who wanted to speak to him. 
At first the poor shepherd was dumb-founded ; 
then he besfan to tremble in all his limbs. The 
monk, however, reassured him and led him into a 
narrow, dark valley, and then, striking the ground 
three times with his rod, he said : " Open ! open ! 
open ! 

Thereupon a great noise arose beneath the feet 
of the monk and the shepherd ; the earth seemed 
to quake and then a large opening became visible. 
They found they were in a long gallery, lighted up 



•384 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. • 

by a single lamp and closed at the other end by 
folding doors of brass. The monk, who no doubt 
was a magician, knocked three times at the door 
with his rod, saying again : " Open ! open ! open ! " 
and the brass doors turned upon their hinges, pro- 
ducing the same noise which they had heard before 
underground. 

They were now in a grotto, whose ceiling and 
walls, blackened by the smoke of an immense num- 
ber of torches, seemed to be hung with black as a 
sign of mourning. It might have been taken for a 
mortuary chapel, only there was no cofifin or cata- 
falque visible. The shepherd had, in the mean 
time, begun to tremble once more, but the monk 
repeated his summons before a silver door, which 
thereupon opened in the same manner as the brass 
door. 

In a magnificent room lighted but dimly and in 
such a manner that it was impossible to tell where 
the light came from, they saw the Emperor Fred- 
erick, seated upon a golden throne, with a golden 
crown on his head ; as they entered he gently in- 
clined his head, contracting his bushy eyebrows. 
His long red beard had grown through the table 
before him and fell down to the ground. 

Turning, not without visible effort, towards the 
shepherd, he spoke to him for some time on differ- 
ent subjects and recommended to him to repeat 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 385 

what he heard to his friends at home. His voice 
was feeble, but it grew strong and sonorous as 
soon as he alluded to the glory of Germany. Then 
he said : — 

"Are the ravens still flying over the moun- 
tains ? " 

" Yes ! " replied the shepherd. 

" Are the dead trees still hanging over the 
abysses of the Kyff hauser as in former days ? " 

" Who could uproot them, unless it be a great 
storm ? " 

" Has no one spoken to you of the reappearance 
of the old woman } " 

" No ! " 

" Well then, I must sleep another hundred 
years ! " 

He made a sign to the shepherd that he could 
go, and then fell asleep, murmuring the name of a 
woman which died on his lips. 

For among these great Sleepers of Germany 
there is also a woman, but a woman rather of 
symbolic than real existence. What is the differ- 
ence ? Tradition gives the following account of 
her : — 

When Witikind was beaten by Charlemagne at 

Engter, a poor old woman, unable to follow him in 

his flight, uttered lamentable cries and thus added 

to the panic among the defeated army. When the 

25 



soldiers obeyed Witikind's orders and stopped for 
a moment in the heat of their flight, they threw 
a mass of sand and rock upon the old woman. 
They did not expect that she would die when thus 
buried alive ; their commander had told them : 
" She will come back ! " 

This old woman, who is to come back, is Teu- 
tonia, and it was her name that Frederick Barba- 
rossa was murmuring to himself as he fell asleep 
for another century. 

When the old woman shall have succeeded in 
extricating herself from this mass of sand and rock 
which weighs her down, then and then only the 
great day will come. The heroes who now are 
held captive in their mountains and subterranean 
grottoes, will shake off the torpor of their long 
sleep; they will reappear among their people, the 
dead trees will bear new foliage to proclaim their 
return by a miracle, and the cry of : Teutonia ! 
Teutonia! will resound in a thousand valleys, and 
the birds even will repeat the name ! 

They say that when this long wished for day 
does come, Germany will be freed of all her dif- 
ficulties, and will boast of having but one creed,, 
one law, and one heart; she will be glorious and 
free, one and indivisible ! 

We must wait for the birds to tell us so, before 
we believe it. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 387 



At that time Teutonia and her emperors were 
alike asleep. They mention a peasant woman from 
Mayence, who on her way home became so ex- 
hausted and unable to bear the heat of the sun, 
that she had to seek shelter in an isolated house, 
standing by the wayside in the midst of a planta- 
tion of young trees. It was a dwelling of a skill- 
ful magician. She asked him for leave to rest 
there a few moments. As he was in the midst of 
some of his most abstruse calculations, he only 
replied by nodding his head, and glanced with 
his eye at a bench in the most distant part of the 
room. She went and sat down, but only on the 
edge, hardly knowing if she was allowed to do so 
or not ; every moment she got up to ask her host 
if she disturbed him, and if she had not better 
leave him, tired and exhausted as she was. She 
told him that she would much rather endure the 
heat and the fatigue, than be a burden to him, 
she begged him not to mind her and to go on 
just as if she were not there, and a host of similar 
phrases. 

Annoyed by her incessant, idle talk, the magician 
suddenly turned round and fixedly looked her full 
in the face. Immediately she fell asleep. (There 
was no doubt some knowledge of magnetism al- 
ready in the world at that time, but as yet only of 
magic magnetism). When the good woman awoke, 



388 MYTHS OF THE RHINE, 

she was alone ; her host had left her. To her 
great regret she was compelled to leave without 
being able to thank him for his hospitality in her 
usual profuse manner, and to beg him to excuse 
her falling asleep, when he did her the honor of 
keeping her company. 

As she left the house, she was not a little sur- 
prised to see around the house, not a copse of 
young trees, but a number of tall pine trees and 
noble oaks, but she thought it possible she might 
have left by another door than that by which she 
had entered. 

When she at last reached her village, new sur- 
prises were in store for her. Of all the good peo- 
ple whom she met on her way or whom she saw 
standing in the doors of their houses, she could 
not recognize a single one ; she had to look a 
long time before she found her own house, and 
when she reached it at last, it was inhabited by 
strange people, who in spite of her protestations, 
pushed her out and treated her as mad. 

Then followed a lawsuit, the result of which was 
to prove, that instead of sleeping an hour or so on 
that bench, as she believed, she had been asleep 
there a hundred years. Thus the young saplings 
had had time to grow up into large trees and her 
house to change masters. The strangers who were 
now living in it and who had turned her out so 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 389 

unceremoniously, were nothing less than her great 
grandchildren. 

I hope, however, the matter was settled arnica- 
bly. 

The Germans have, with that perseverance which 
characterizes the nation, preserved all that could be 
preserved of their ancient gods as well as of their 
former heroes ; they do not like to lose anything, 
only they did not embalm their favorites, but used 
enchantment. Let us, however, notice at once for 
the honor of the gods, that they were never con- 
demned to sleep indefinitely. Not one of them is 
found among the great Sleepers, such as Charle- 
magne, Witikind, Frederick L, William Tell, or 
the peasant woman, from the neighborhood of Ma- 
yence. It is true, they were exiled to certain re- 
mote districts, which they were not allowed to 
leave, but they could at least move about and con- 
tinue their former mode of life there, after a fash- 
ion. 

It is not so very long since certain charcoal 
burners protested that they had seen Asa-Thor, 
for want of giants to combat, hurl his hammer 
against the tallest trees, which he broke and up- 
rooted. 

They had also seen the enchanted hunt of 
Diana, whose deep-mouthed dogs bark at night 
and disturb the slumbers of honest people in 



1 



390 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



Bohemian villages. Who has not heard of the in- 
tricrues of old Venus, not with her former, classic 
lover, the god Mars, but with the good knight 
Tannhauser ? If we are to believe Heinrich 

Heine, even Jupiter 
has been recently 
discovered again in 
one of the Norwe- 
man islands. 

o 




It would be the 
heisfht of 



^^ ' ight of impru- 
dence, of course, to 
undertake an ac- 
count of the discov- 
ery, after such a 
master. I shall, therefore, be content to present a 
mere summary of this remarkable tradition. 

There is an island in the Northern seas, which 
is bordered by icebergs and arid mountains: the 
valleys are dim and dark with heavy mists, the 
mountain tops are covered with snow for nine 
months of the year. 

Here, one dismal morning, some travellers 
landed, driven by a tempest much more than by 
their own free will. They were mostly savants. 



members of great academies from Stockholm and 
St. Petersburg, who had undertaken a voyage of 
discovery to the polar regions. The arid, almost 



bare soil did not promise a pleasant resting place, 
but the mountain slopes towards the south pro- 
duced fine grass and dwarf gooseberry bushes, and 
the immense number of holes in the eround, to- 
gether with distinct traces of debris left at the 
openings, proved that the island was at all events 
inhabited by countless numbers of rabbits. Of 
other animal life, however, no trace could be 
found. 

Rabbits seemed to be the only inhabitants of 
the island, and that was tempting enough for poor 
sailors who had for some time been put on salt 
rations. 

Our savants prepared, therefore, a large number 
of traps and snares, when suddenly a fierce tem- 
pest of snow and hail broke out, and compelled 
them instantly to seek refuge in a spacious cave 
which opened in that direction. 

They were not a little surprised to find here an 
old man, bald, hollow cheeked, and pale, whose 
body was emaciated and decrepit and who was 
hardly clothed in spite of the rigor of the climate. 
But beneath all these signs of extreme old age, and 
great destitution, the stranger displayed an air of 
authority, and on his serene and lofty brow such 
supernatural majesty, that the travellers were filled 
with respect and reverence, and well-nigh trembled 
at his appearance. 



392 MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 

An eagle of the largest variety, but so reduced 
that he looked the mere skeleton of a bird, and 
with faded and disheveled plumage, sat in a corner, 
the picture of misery, with his dull eyes and his 
drooping wings. He was the old man's sole com- 
panion. 

The two hermits, having no other means of sub- 
sistence, lived by hunting, and the old man found 
in addition, means to carry on a modest traffic in 
the furs of the only game that the island contained ; 
he laid up large supplies of the small peltry and 
exchanged it for luxuries 

But my pen refuses to go on. I cannot recon- 
cile it to my principles as an author nor to my 
conscience as an honest student of genuine myths, 
to repeat here a story, which is altogether apocry- 
phal, and which belongs much less to tradition than 
to mystification. 

Now, this old man was Jupiter, and as I think 
it over, I come to the conclusion that Mr. Heine, 
who laughs at the most serious things, has skill- 
fully concealed his irony under the cloak of an in- 
teresting story, for the mere purpose of telling us 
that the Chief of the Gods, dread Jupiter, has be- 
come — a dealer in rabbit skins ! 

I cannot follow his example. 

Without wandering from my subject, for I am 
still speaking of false gods, I will substitute for 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 393 

this necessarily much curtailed account, another 
story which I can warrant as authentic. 

" In Persia," we are told by Count Gobineau, in a 
recently published book of great merit, " the Soitfys, 
that is to say the savants and philosophers, reject 
all dogmatic religion and believe in the reunion of 
the soul with God in trances only. When this 
union is complete, the soul is transformed and be- 
comes itself a participant in the nature of the un- 
created essence, and Man is God." Human folly 
is always a disease produced by human pride. 

France, also, has produced a few gods of that 
kind ; I do not mean to mention them, however, 
as belonging to the myths of the Rhine, which 
have special reference to Germany only. But 
among the Germans, also, there is a school of 
philosophers who without going as far as the Per- 
sians go, are utterly incredulous, and disregarding 
trances and immortal souls alike, have finally denied 
the existence of God altogether and made them- 
selves gods. This shows how anxious savants as 
well as ignorant men are, in that beautiful country, 
to people the earth with deities of every kind ! 

It is the history of one of these earth-born gods 
which I propose to give here, before I close this 
long chapter. Alas ! he is dead now, and that is a 
great pity ; but he did live once ; on that essential 
point there is no lack of evidence. I could even, 



394 MYTHS' OF THE RHINE. 

like the Thuringian peasants when speaking of 
Frederick Barbarossa, say : " I have seen him ! " 

In the year 1800 there was born in Dusseldorf, 
in Prussia, a child in a Jewish family recently con- 
verted to Christianity. This child might well have 
been looked upon as of supernatural origin, so 
entirely different w^as it, from its earliest days, from 
all that had ever been seen before. Martin Luther 
no doubt, if the child had been one of his own, 
would have pronounced him to be a Killecroff. 

He was not only noisy and troublesome, but he 
was also a pedant; he snubbed professors and lis- 
tened to the advice of very young children. When 
his parents scolded him, he only laughed at them ; 
when a grave event disturbed a neighbor's house- 
hold, he laughed ; when the French took his 
native city, he laughed ; in fine he was always 
laughing. 

However, as he grew up, he gorged himself with 
logic, with mathematics, with Greek and Latin and 
Hebrew and all kinds of good things besides. 
He became even a philosopher before he was of 
age, but his philosophy consisted mainly in a sar- 
castic laugh. When they spoke to him of the 
position he might occupy in Dusseldorf, and of the 
wealth he might acquire, his only answer was a 
grimace. 

A rabbi spread out before him heaps of gold, 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 395 

promising to give him that and more, if he would 
be his slave only for a few years ; he refused to 
listen to him. As he was a vain man, the demon 
of Fame endeavored to tempt him, but he laughed 
in his face. 

At last the devil, a real devil, I am sure (his 
name was George William Frederick Schlegel) 
whispered into his ear: " Would you like to be a 
god ? " 

This time our young philosopher did not laugh. 
He became a god, and, from official jealousy, pro- 
ceeded to deny the great God in Heaven until he 
lost all human sentiments. He lived alone, friend- 
less, childless, without a family and giving up even 
his mother country, finding that everything had to 
be done over again in this world, which he had 
not created. 

After leaving Germany he came to France, and 
here in France he laughed louder and bitterer than 
ever. In France they did not believe in his divin- 
ity ; they did not worship him, but they loved him 
as if he had been a simple mortal ; in France he 
made friends and he became like other men once 
more. Finally, as he was after all bad only in his 
wit, he became voluntarily a convert as he saw the 
evil fruit of his teachings. He took a wife to 
himself with the sanction of the Church, and he 
died a believer. 



39^ 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE, 



This ex-god was called Heinrich Heine, that 
Heinrich Heine, who laughed so bitterly at his ex- 
colleague, Jupiter, and spoke of him as a dealer in 
rabbit skins. 







XVI. 










XVI. 

Women as Missionaries, Women as Prophets, Strong Women 
AND Serpent Women. — ChildrerCs Myths, — Godmothers. — 
Fairies. — The Magic Wand and the Broomstick. — The Lady 
OF Kynast. — The World of the Dead, the World of Ghosts, 
and the World of Shadows. — Myths of Animals. 



Well ? Have you seen enough of the gods and 
demigods of Germany, of the Nixen and goblins, 



400 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



the Kobolds, the giants, and the dwarfs ? Have 
I shown you enough of this vast storehouse of 
human folly ? I must confess, it makes me mel- 
ancholy to speak of all this, and I feel an urgent 
desire to " shut up shop." 

The conscientious collector of myths, who has 
more material than he can manage, and sees new 
myths continually rising before him, is not unlike 
those learned physicians who spend their lives 
among crowds of insane people. A fever of imi- 
tation seizes them and soon they begin to w-ander 
like their patients. 

Perhaps I have reached that point myself with- 
out becoming aware of it. The reader must judge 
for himself. 

My mind, filled with myths, symbols, and eccen- 
tricities, is ready to ask for mercy, and still I feel 
it, there are some things yet to be done. For in- 
stance, I recollect having promised to give a com- 
pletion of the history of the Druidesses, that is to 
say, of women, those myth-like beings by emin- 
ence ! That kind of instinctive sense, that delicacy 
of almost intuitive perceptions which distinguished 
them from the other sex in its material coarse- 
ness, could not fail to give them easily the advan- 
tage over men. In Celtic lands as in Scandinavia 
they were the models of all virtues, the oracles of 
the house. They were occasionally beaten, it is 







26 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



403 



true, but they were also grandly honored, and in 
Germany especially people burnt incense before 
them, long before they smoked tobacco in their 
presence. 

At the time when Christianity came, the women 
played a prominent and truly glorious part there ; 
all the historians bear witness. Between the fourth 
and the sixth century Fritigill, Queen of the Mar- 
comanni, Clotilda, Queen of France, and Bertha, 
Queen of England, had compelled their husbands 
to bow down before the Cross, and not by witch- 
craft, as the pagans wickedly maintained, but simply 
by persuasion. Other women, who belonged to 
noble families or to the common people at large, 
a Krimhild, a Thekla, and a Liobat, assisted the 
missionaries in their dangerous enterprise and ac- 
tually helped them in cutting down the sacred oak 
trees. 

What had become, during these long continued 
persecutions, of you, fair Gann, noble Aurinia, 
majestic Velleda, and of your sisters, the other 
Druidesses 1 

They were wandering about in dark forests, pro- 
scribed and weeping over their departed glory; 
they concealed themselves in remote places where 
the agents of the civil power but rarely appeared. 
Sometimes, of an evening, they would venture forth, 
approach a belated traveller on a cross-road, and 



404 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



hold with hhn mysterious converse. Sometimes, 
also, the inhabitants of a village, or even of a 
larger place, would go secretly to their well chosen 
hiding places to consult them on the good or evil 
chances of their prospects in life, or on an epidemic 
that was attacking their cattle. Some people, and 
among them not unfrequently recent converts, who 
were still strongly imbued with their former creed, 
would ask them to name their new-born infants 
and thus to bring them good luck. Hence they 
were at first known as Godmothers, and at a later 
time as Fairies. 

It was naturally supposed that like the ancient 
fairies of the East, these women also derived their 
power from the stars, for why else should they have 
been met so constantly on the mountain slopes, 
when the moon was shining brightly, or slipping 
suddenly from behind a rock or a tree, where 
will-o'-the-wisps and fireflies alone were in the habit 
of being about } 

Among these fairies many were kind and natur- 
ally benevolent ; others, no doubt embittered by 
their fate, appeared irascible and ill disposed. Woe 
to the men, or even the cattle upon whom they 
cast an evil eye ! 

This evil influence could be averted only by the 
assistance of another fairy, a good one in this case, 
who relieved you more or less promptly by means 



of a talisman, a constellated stone, or certain words 
possessed of magic power. 

Now, if we add to these godmothers, to these 
ofodchildren, to o;ood and bad fairies, the terrible 
Ogres, whose very name filled the people of those 
days with terror, you will know all the mysterious 
personages which appear in the myths of children 
and which we have all known in our early days. 

If we were to examine these legends and tradi- 
tions more carefully, we should no doubt easily find 
" Bluebeard " again among the old burggraves of the 
Rhine, as " Puss in Boots " has already been dis- 
covered there. " The Sleeping Beauty " might very 
well be the peasant woman who had slept a cen- 
tury linder the influence of magic magnetism, and 
why should not our little dwarf Kreiss and his 
brothers have furnished the first idea of little Tom 
Thumb, with Quadragant to play the part of the 
ogre ? In " Cinderella " we might with the same 
readiness recognize one of the three Undine sisters, 
who forgot amid the delights of the evening assem- 
bly, that their furlough was out at ten o'clock ? 
The same would apply, no doubt, to many others 
who lived under the influence of wicked Nichus or 
evil disposed fairies. 

Poor Druidesses ! If you had at least survived 
as fairies ! If they had met you only in the air 
travelling simply by the aid of your magic wand ! 



4o6 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



But in proportion as Christianity increased, your 
power necessarily decreased. The day came at last, 
when they dared transform you into fortune tellers, 










and finally into accursed witches! Then your en- 
chantress' wand became that atrocious broomstick 
upon which you travelled through the air on your 
way to the witches' Sabbath ! Oh misery ! Oh 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



407 



wretchedness ! What a fatal overthrow of all 
earthly glory and grandeur! 

When the women thus saw their power of ruling 
men by prophetic inspiration slip away from them, 
they one fine day determined to change their tac- 
tics, their ways and manners, and, I am sorry to 
have to say it, almost their sex ! They assumed 
the noisy and truculent manners of their brothers 
and husbands and affected violent exercises, riding 
on horseback, wrestling, and even fighting in bat- 
tles. This was the age of bullying women, of 
Strong Women in fact. 

When they were young ladies they would admit 
no lover who could not prove his affections by the 
most perilous adventures and impossible enterprises. 
Such was the case with the famous Lady of Ky- 
nast. 

She owned a large domain and on this domain 
a ruined old tower which stood on the summit of 
a steep, high rock, surrounded on all sides by a 
deep abyss. 

Rich, young, and beautiful, eagerly sought for by 
a number of admirers, she did not think, in her 
desire to keep them from becoming too pressing, 
of undertaking an endless piece of embroidery like 
Penelope. She did not embroider ; in fact, she 
looked with contempt, and almost with disgust, 
upon every kind of work that was done by women. 



4o8 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



She told her lovers that she was betrothed to Ky- 
nast — this was the name of the old tower — and 
that any one who thought of winning her good 
will, would first have to compete with her be- 
trothed. To do this, nothing was required but to 
climb up the rock and the tower, and after having 
reached the battlements, to make a complete round, 
not on foot, however, and assisted by the hands 
and knees, but on horseback, without other assist- 
ance than the bridle. 

The flock of lovers took flight instantly ; only 
two remained. They were two brothers, bereft of 
reason by the strength of their passion. 

After having cast lots, the first one attempted 
the task and at first he was successful. But that 
was all. He had no sooner reached the crenelated 
top of the old tower, unaccompanied by his less 
active courser, than he was seized with vertigo and 
fell instantly into the abyss. 

The second brother, in his turn, climbed up to 
the top and actually succeeded in riding some 
length along the battlements ; but soon his horse, 
feeling the stones slipping from under its hoofs, 
and the whole tower rocking under the weight, re- 
fused to go on. To return was as impossible as 
to proceed. The knight, determined to carry 
through the undertaking in which he was engaged, 
encouraged his horse with his voice and with his 



/ 



/ 



spurs, but the poor animal remained immovable, 
apparently wedged in between the large stones of 
the tower. At last, knight and horse disappeared 
together ; the abyss swallowed up their bleeding, 
mangled remains. 

The Lady of Kynast could not disguise her de- 
light and her pride as she received the congratu- 
lations of her noble neighbors ; all the great ladies 
thought of having a Kynast, or a similar trap, in 
which they might catch and try their lovers. 

No other claimants, however, appeared to woo 
this fair lady, who was so well protected by her 
betrothed. The poor damsel felt rather aggrieved 
by this neglect. She was by no means satisfied 
with having sacrificed only two young men to her 
pride ; she was gradually becoming soured and ill- 
tempered, when at last a third lover presented him- 
self and asked leave to attempt the trial. 

She did not know who it was, and this surprised 
her ; for how could he have fallen in love with 
her ? He might possibly have seen her on her 
balcony, or at some royal feast ; perhaps he was 
only allured by her great reputation. However, 
there was nothing to lose by accepting his offer. 
At best, he was only one more victim to be added 
to the list ; that was all. At that time women 
were ferocious. 

For some days a thick, heavy fog had shrouded 



412 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



the castle and the old tower from top to bottom, 
so as to make the ascent utterly impossible. 

The simple laws of hospitality, required, there- 
fore, that the lady should offer her castle to the 
newly arrived knight. 

The latter was handsome and of fine figure ; his 
features beamed with bravery and intelligence ; his 
white, delicate hands, exquisitely shaped, proved 
sufficiently that he was of noble descent ; and his 
large retinue bespoke his high rank and large for- 
tune. During three days he spent almost all his 
time with the young lady, but as yet he had not 
dared say a word of his love. She, however, felt 
herself gradually conquered by a feeling which had, 
until now, been unknown to her heart. 

When the dense veil of mist was at length torn 
aside, and the Kynast shone forth in its full splen- 
dor, she was on the point of telling the knight 
that she would not insist on the trial in his case; 
but what would her good friends, the noble ladies 
of the neighborhood, have said ? 

When the moment came, the Lady of Kynast 
felt her heart fail her. She shut herself in, she 
wept, she cried, and although little given to prayers 
generally, she besought God to do a miracle in be- 
half of her knight. She could, however, hope very 
little from such a miracle, for in the meantime, 
loud clamors had been heard below, and as she 



-^ 



/ 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



415 



surely thought the spectators were bewailing the 
death of her last lover, she fainted away. 

Cries of joy and of triumph roused her again ; 
the knight had successfully accomplished the task. 
Quite overcome, she rushes to meet him, and in 
her intense excitement and the depth of her pas- 
sion, she forgets that all eyes are upon her, and 
breathlessly cries out : " My hand is yours." 

But he draws himself up to his full height, and 
haughtily and harshly he replies with a withering 
smile : — 

" Have I ever asked you for your hand } I only 
came to avenge my two brothers, whom you have 
killed, and I have done it, for I do not love you, 
and you love me ! Very well ! Now you can die 
of your love, or of your shame, as you like it ! 
Farewell, I am going back to Margaret, my darl- 
ing, my wife ! " 

The same evening the wretched lady had herself 
hoisted up to the top of the tower, from whence 
she wished, as she said, to watch the settino- sun. 
But before the sun had sunk below the horizon, 
she had rejoined her victims at the foot of the 
ruined old tower. 

Thus the Kynast obtained possession of his be- 
trothed. 

The story might furnish an admirable plot for a 
grand opera. But, upon reflection, I think it would 



4i6 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



suit a circus better, for there are in it three first- 
class parts for horses. 

The Lady of Kynast was a strong minded woman, 
rather than a really strong woman ; but there were 
others, who really distinguished themselves by ex- 
traordinary physical strength. It would seem that 
the habit of taking violent exercise had finally de- 
veloped their muscles and sinews to such a degree, 
that few men could be found strong enough to 
overcome them in a wrestling match, or in armed 
combat. 

Such was the noble Brunehilt, queen of Isen- 
stein, in Norway. 

Soothsayers, Godmothers, Fairies, Strong Women, 
and Serpent Women are not the only women of 
this class which we ought to mention here perhaps. 
We might also speak of the Swan Women, who 
floated on the water in the dim morning mist, 
clothed in a cloak of eider down ; and the Forest 
Woman, who was honored every year by the burn- 
ing of a spindle full of hemp, to keep her from 
doing any harm ; and the Water Sneezers, to whom 
you had to say three times " God bless you ! " in 
order to save their souls from purgatory; and the 
little Moss Gatherers, who could not escape from 
their enemies, the Forest Woman and the Wild 
Huntsman, unless a benevolent charcoal burner 
would mark some trees with three crosses, behind 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



417 



But 



we 



which they could conceal themselves, 
must make haste to conclude. 

However, as the great Wild Huntsman has 
accidentally been mentioned, we do not think it 
would be fair to leave him out and pass him over 
in silence. 

He is the Lord Hackelberg. Most imprudently 
he had begged God to allow him to exchange his 




place in heaven for the right to hunt upon earth 
for all time to come. To punish him, God granted 



27 



4i8 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



his prayer, and ever since he has been hunting, 
with horns blowing and dogs barking, without res- 
pite or repose. He hunts continually, day and 
night, to-day as yesterday ; he must hunt to-morrow 
as he does to-day, and yet he must hunt the same 
deer, which forever escapes from him, and ever will 
escape. 

Which of the two is most to be pitied, the ever- 
lasting huntsman, or the everlasting game t 

How many others could claim a right to be 
mentioned here as well as he ? 

These are the people who are condemned to 
remain standing forever, and those who are con- 
demned to dance forever, another variety of be- 
witched people. 

You do not think my material is all used up '^. 
By no means ! In the first place, I might have 
told you all about mythological animals ; of Thor's 
buck-goat, which enjoyed the same privilege as the 
boar of the Walhalla, of daily satisfying the power- 
ful appetite of its master and his guests, and yet 
being replaced in all its bodily fullness, provided 
only care had been taken to put all the bones 
aside. 

I might have gone back to give a fuller account 
of that famous lormungandur, the great sea ser- 
pent, which still exists in our days — who dares 
doubt it? The crew of an English vessel, passen- 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



419 



gers, officers, and sailors, have unanimously testified 
in a legally drawn up deposition that they have 
met it quite recently in the Northern seas. What 
more evidence do you want ? 

And the Kraken, that most marvelous of all 
cetaceans, w^hich could easily be mistaken for a 
habitable island, and on which imprudent naviga- 
tors once really landed, erecting their tents and 
saying mass, without its ever stirring, until they 
hoisted anchors, when the animal for the first time 
gave signs of life ? 

And the Griffins, those perfect symbols of av- 
arice, w^ho are all the time busily engaged in drag- 
ging forth from underground vast heaps of gold 
and precious stones, merely in order to guard and 
defend them ever afterwards, at the peril of their 
lives, although the gold and the jewels are of no 
use to any one ? And Sleipner, Odin's eight-legged 
horse, and the dog Garm, etc ? 

Passino: on to another varietv of zooloo^ical mar- 
vels, I might have mentioned the Salm,07i, whose 
scaly skin wicked Loki assumed as a disguise in 
order to escape from the wrath of the gods after 
Balder's death. And that marvelous Sturgeon in 
the Rhine, which the French legends have put to 
good profit. Let us pause a moment in contem- 
plation of this wonderful fish. 

A young, noble lady determined, in order to save 



420 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



her honor, to destroy her beauty, the grandest, 
most heroic, and most calamitous sacrifice that can 
possibly be made. Hence, when the moment for 
action arrived, her courage failed her. But if she 
could not bear the idea of becoming ugly, she 
could at least mutilate herself. So she puts her 
dagger upon the ledge of a window which over- 
looked the Rhine, seizes a hatchet, and with a 
single blow cuts off her hand, which falls into the 
river, and then with the bleeding stump terrifies 
her infamous persecutor. Here the sturgeon makes 
its appearance. This providential sturgeon has seen 
the hand drop into the river ; it swallows it with 
well-known voracity, but in the anticipation of re- 
storing it, seven years later, uninjured to the true 
owner, and thus to prove her superhuman virtue. 
And this really happened seven years after the oc- 
currence in Rome, in the presence of the Pope 
and his assembled Cardinals. 

At first sight it does not appear quite clear, 
how the sturgeon could have passed from the 
waters of the Rhine into those of the Tiber, but 
in this kind of stories there is no use in trying to 
comprehend everything. 

The noble lady and the sturgeon have furnished 
the theme for the famous novel, " La Manekine," 
and later, in the Middle Ages, for a great dramatic 
mystery on the French stage. 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



421 



Before concluding this chapter, I may be allowed 
to say a word about the World of the Dead, which 
sends in certain consecrated nights its representa- 
tives to some of the churches, or to silent dinners, 
and about the World of Ghosts, the annals of 
which have been collected, and the laws of which 
have been explained by Jung Stilling and Ker- 
ner. 

These ghosts can imitate all the motions of men, 
walk, run, and even jump, but they have no power 



^ '• •^'}^ , I 



m m^ 






5^ 



^ '.j^j 







over material objects; they cannot move a table, a 
chair, or even a straw. All their united efforts 
would not succeed in causing the light of a candle 



422 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE. 



to flicker. We can therefore feel perfectly easy 
with regard to these ghosts ; they cannot injure 
our furniture, nor draw the knot of our cravat in- 
conveniently tight, if they should take a fancy to 
make an end of us. 

Nor can I keep altogether silence as to the 
World of Shadows, still dimmer and less percepti- 
ble than the World of Ghosts. I shall therefore 
content myself with a single instance, which we 
owe to a Dutch legend. The master bell-ringer of 
the city of Haarlem, caught at a tavern by his wife 
escaped with such extraordinary rapidity that his 
shadow was unable to follow him, and remained 
hanging on the wall — a fact duly certified by the 
signature and seal of the reigning burgomaster, the 
aldermen, and other notables of said town. 

In spite of such overwhelming evidence one 
might be disposed to doubt the authenticity of this 
remarkable occurrence, which Hoffmann, I believe, 
has used in one of his Tales ; but had not long be- 
fore Hoffmann, and long before the master bell- 
ringer of Haarlem even, the god F6 left his shadow 
in some town of Hindustan, instead of his card } 
We try in vain to find anything new under the 
sun ; all our most famous myths and all our most 
amusing anecdotes have travelled all over India be- 
fore they reached us. 

I might also tell you .... but he who tells 



MYTHS OF THE RHINE, 



423 



everything, says too much. Let us here pause 
once more, and for the last time. Farewell, reader, 
and may Heaven keep you sound in body and 
soul. 



^"m 







* — ^^ ^ 









C- i- 



,^^^ 










.'^V 












->^' 



^OO 



A 









'% 4' 



~<C<N^^ 



•A ' » 1 









0' s^' , -'^ <5^^ 






.'^'■ 



- ^: 









<3 C> 




-t i^ 






> -^^ 






A' ^^ 






,0 o 



-^0 



.\ 












"b^'-'r^^'-^^.o* A%:^^A ■'^/'r^5*«'\* .^^' ■■ ^■'.^■■^-. 



■A 



-bo 



A 



% 4 



Oo. 



V 



^^^^. 



"-n^ 
-f^- 



7 

- " %. '°" ^]^' c » ~ '■ / \" ' "'^ ^ V'r- " • ' --'^' - - ■ ..x^ 



' •> s « ' >:.^ 9, 



•'/ 



1 >* \ ,, 

I ■!X. -. o^ "7*. ^ %f I \x--„~-„ - 









^ "^ 






.^ 



c^. 



'/ 



:;-/'% 



"oo'< 



■ ^ -^ A^ 












* » I A ■* V 



^^^^^~ 



v\^ 



J-^ -^t^. \ 






%/ 















. .^^ 






X .^ 



.'^* .\ 









4 









■i*^ 






'^/>. 












^^ .^^" 



^ 9^ 






v^^' 



>^ % 









o 



/ <::. 









■^oo^ 



J 





















■ '^ 



c- ',.-^=^-^; 






■XV -'^v 



^ ' A^ 






O^ 






,./^ 



,o>- .."•»/<> 



C- ,' 



A- 



V 

o> ^>^^>. 'h-. ''' .y 









A 



s^-^. 



V I 



X* 


















':s' ,<,^' 






<o 



c 



V I « 



,0 ^^ 1^' 



O :. V. 









o ^/ 






OO^ 









X 






"?: 



x^' 












.x 



^0 o 



xf. 



> s ^ ' *■ /^ -^-^ 



^Z*-) To^"^' 



c^^' 






'<, "X^tA' ' 



, o^ 



J I 1 



^ '^^^/V.^ 









* .N 



^0 







k 



o- .^0 



':^y^sJ 



^^ -n.. 



xO O 



,^'^ 



-^ 



0^ .-'>. '^O ^'^ V> 



k, o « 






'. S " .<^ 



'O 



r. ^ 






-^-.^^ 



v^- - ^ 



s ^ o , ''^. " ' ' 



^0^ :,y 

< -7* * > 



^/>- 






o. 






-/„ „ . ^. A 



o ■ 
















^\' 






•^^> 



"- o'^' 



,*-^ -'^, 



■^> 



J- = ■ 






^- ^ 



^'^^ 



' 0^ 



cO 



-^^ 



'O 



-0^ X 



\ I « 



<r ^^ ^,,Y?^'' ^ V 



O 



A^\^ . " "^ '• . -^b 

•a 

.0 o^ ^ ' « 



\' 









S^ 






^x^• 



^0^' :-^' 






-f "^ 












.--^^ 



.0' 



^''-^^^'^'•^ 



■wV 



■^ .V' 









^''. ^f 



A-^ 



O^ 



0^ "^ » ' ^ 



^ ,#■ 



c^. 















,V 



-^v av^ 



aV ^^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



027 554 377 9 



